


Get Used to It

by marylovesskyrim



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gang World, M/M, Prostitution, not very serious
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-10-18 00:48:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10605831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marylovesskyrim/pseuds/marylovesskyrim
Summary: Seungkwan's life is flipped upside down when he gets mixed up with an old friend's gang and ends up becoming the honorary chauffeur of an outrageously handsome man by the name of Hansol Chwe.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gang au about Verkwan, but will feature other ships, mainly Meanie, Soonseok, and Junhao.  
> This story takes place in America and the characters are all aged up about five years.  
>   
> These first few chapters are a bit rough because they're pretty old, but the writing gets much better further in. The first 8 chapters are already written, I'm just transferring the story over here.  
> Thanks for reading!

Seungkwan was at a low point in his life; his mother had cancer, he had no money, and an old friend he’d borrowed a large sum of money from was suddenly demanding repayment. He was currently driving to said old friend’s house to discuss the situation, but his GPS was leading him into a shady part of town. Seungkwan was a bit confused by this, he knew his friend wasn’t poor by any means, he’d had enough money to shell out enough for two years’ worth of chemo without batting an eyelash. Maybe he’d hit hard times, and needed Seungkwan to pay him back to stay afloat.

He continued down the road, noticing that the people in this part of town drove recklessly, and the sidewalks were jam packed with people carrying grocery bags and backpacks. He finally located the parking lot to the building he was given the address of. To his surprise, it wasn’t an apartment building like he was expecting, but an office building. He was momentarily distracted from his confusion by someone quite rudely cutting him off while he was trying to turn into the parking lot.

He managed to make it into the lot unscathed and parked, he wandered up to the double doors and stepped inside. The receptionist didn’t look up from her desk, so he found his way to the elevator on his own. He pressed the button and waited patiently for the elevator. His patience lasted for all of ten seconds, the elevator was taking far too long for his liking, and he was relieved when it finally arrived (it took about 45 seconds to get there). When he got inside the elevator he checked the small slip of paper with the address on it before pressing the button for the fifteenth floor.

Thankfully the elevator didn’t stop anywhere on the way up, and he was off quickly. He was in for another surprise when he stepped out, there was only a hallway leading into a large open area, not at all like a residential floor. He walked down the hallway slowly, fearful that he was in the wrong building all together, but his fears went away when a familiar face peeked out into the hallway.

“I hope you didn’t have trouble finding me, this is one of my harder to reach locations,” Chan wasn’t much for traditional greetings it seemed.

“I was a bit scared I was in the wrong place,” Seungkwan looked around the large room when he reached it, “do you live here?”

The room was sparsely decorated, a couch sat in a corner with a coffee table in front of it, near the door there was a small kitchen area that looked completely unused. The most interesting thing about the room was the wall of windows, but the view it afforded wasn’t the best, all that could be seen was a gas station and some parking lots.

“No, not full time, only when I need to be in this area, I don’t have time to stand and talk all day, come with me,” Chan instructed him before walking off to a door next to the kitchen.

Seungkwan gave the room one more once over before following Chan into an office area. There was a desk with two chairs in front of it, and a small couch with a man on it in the corner. Chan ignored the man and took a seat behind the desk. Seungkwan sat in one of the chairs and waited for Chan to address him. Chan fiddled with some folders on the desk before pulling out several papers.

“Seungkwan, I know I did you a favor two years ago without intending for you to pay me back, but sadly I’m in need of a favor in return.”

This is what Seungkwan had been afraid of, he didn’t have the money to pay him back, all that he earned from his multiple jobs went to his mother’s treatments. He didn’t know what would happen when he told Chan this, he hoped he would understand (and not sue him).

Before he could attempt to stutter out his excuses Chan spoke again.

“I don’t need you to pay me back the money,” Seungkwan visibly relaxed in his seat, “but I need you to provide a service for me.”

Seungkwan didn’t mind helping out his friend, but he had three jobs to work around, it had taken weeks of planning just to arrange this visit alone.

“I hardly have time to do anything except work, if whatever you need makes me miss work I’ll lose my jobs.” Seungkwan couldn’t afford to lose any of the money he brought in, in fact, he was looking for another job to help with car payments and rent.

“You won’t need your jobs, I’ll pay you more than they do, I just really need someone to help me out.” Seungkwan was confused, why would Chan need him to help? If he planned to pay him why not hire someone?

“I need someone to chauffeur my colleague over there,” he gestured to the man on the couch, who looked up from his phone to wave at Seungkwan.

Seungkwan had several thoughts at that moment, but his brain effectively shut off when he saw how handsome the man was. He would’ve kept staring if Chan hadn’t interrupted him.

“He’s a nice guy once you get to know him, all you have to do is drive him where he needs to go and I’ll pay you more than you’ve seen your whole life.”

Seungkwan chose to inquire about the situation at this point.

“Why can’t you hire a driver?” he asked.

Chan studied him for a second, furrowing his eyebrows and pursing his lips.

“Have you ever wondered where I get all my money from?” Chan asked, leaning toward him slightly.

Seungkwan had wondered, but had always settled for a random excuse, like family money and expert saving. The two had been friends when Seungkwan was in college, Chan had worked at the coffee shop he went to in the mornings. He had thought it was quite strange that someone working as a barista had thousands of dollars lying around, but never questioned it.

“Yes, but I don’t understand what that has to do with me,” he responded.

Chan sat back in his seat.

“I run an illegitimate business, at least that’s the technical term,” he said, and the man on the couch snorted behind them.

“My money comes from the city, to say the least. I can’t hire anyone because I’m a wanted criminal, and I have to rely on favors to get things done, which is where you come in, because you’re in no position to say no.” Seungkwan was taken aback by this, he wasn’t expecting his sweet old friend to drop this kind of bomb on him.

He was at a loss for a few seconds, before he managed to find his voice once again.

“Can you put that in plain English please?” He wasn’t sure he quite understood what was being said.

Chan sighed and rubbed his face, Seungkwan noticed that he looked quite exhausted.

“Basically, I run a gang, we extort money out of people, and fight with others for influence, understand?”

“Yes, thank you.” Seungkwan was in mild shock, so he was making a bit of a fool out of himself, but he didn’t care much at this point. “You want me to drive around one of your lackeys while he performs illegal activities at your request, and in return all my bills are paid.”

Chan smiled and the man laughed a bit at being called a lackey.

“Yes, precisely, you start today. Get going, Hansol knows where to go.”

Seungkwan figured Hansol must be the outrageously attractive man, and felt tiny butterflies raising hell in his stomach at the thought of being alone with him, (don’t judge him, he’s never been in a relationship). Seungkwan shook those thoughts out of his head to think about what was being asked of him. Chan was right, he couldn’t say no, and how hard could driving be compared to having three jobs?

He stood and waved at Chan, who wasn’t paying attention anymore, and walked out of the room with Hansol. They walked to the elevator in silence and thankfully it only took a few seconds to arrive this time. Seungkwan wasn’t good with silence, so when they stepped into the elevator he broke it.

“So… you’re a gangster, that’s cool.” Seungkwan wasn’t quite the best with small talk. Thankfully, Hansol wasn’t put out, he laughed and nodded.

“Man of a few words huh? That’s cool too, I’ve been told I never stop talking so this could work out. I’m Seungkwan by the way, nice to meet you.” He held out his hand for Hansol to shake. When their hands met Seungkwan could swear that his whole body lit on fire, the butterflies in his stomach returned in full force, and it only got worse when Hansol spoke for the first time.

“I’m Hansol, nice to meet you too.” His voice was soft and pleasant, and Seungkwan felt like passing out on the spot, but figured that might be a bit awkward.

The elevator dinged when they arrived on the first floor, and they walked out of the building to Seungkwan’s (mom’s) car. Seungkwan fumbled with his keys until he managed to unlock the doors.

“Where to, navigator?” he asked when they were both seated inside the car.

Hansol gave him an address near the building they were at, he figured it would take about fifteen minutes to get there.

“What are you doing at this place? Am I gonna get shot?” Seungkwan hadn’t stopped to think about the fact that he was getting involved with a literal gang, if something happened to him no one would be able to take care of his mother. Seungkwan was really starting to work himself up but Hansol calmed him down quickly.

“Don’t worry, nothing will happen to you, I’ll make sure of it.”

Seungkwan's heart skipped a beat, (or five), and he could feel the heat in his cheeks.

“You never answered my question, what are you doing?” he tried to avoid thinking about how sweet Hansol was proving to be.

“We have to pick up some prostitutes that are being held hostage and bring them back to our headquarters, it’s a bit of a long drive back though, we might want to drive through somewhere and get something to drink.” Hansol didn’t seem too concerned about the hostage prostitutes, so Seungkwan pulled into a McDonald’s and ordered them drinks. Seungkwan wasn’t too enthusiastic about prostitutes in his mom’s car, he’d have to remember to put a towel across the seats in the back.

He pulled back out onto the road and Hansol asked if he could turn on the radio. Seungkwan nodded, he liked listening to music, but he was surprised when Hansol put on a Hip-Hop station.

“Is this okay?” he asked when he saw Seungkwan’s expression.

“It’s fine, it’s just not what I’d normally listen to.” Seungkwan was a fan of pop music, or basically any music he could sing along with.

“If you’re not comfortable I can change it, I don’t mind,”

Seungkwan’s heart was skipping beats again, at how caring Hansol was, even if it was just the radio. Seungkwan figured he may be overreacting, or he was just so desperate for affection that vaguely nice words made him feel like a million bucks. He shook his head and let Hansol keep his music on.

They reached their destination shortly after, Hansol got out of the car after telling Seungkwan to be ready to drive away immediately. Seungkwan sat in the car, which was parked outside a shady looking building. He felt like all his muscles were drawn tightly, he was nervous for what was to come. The moment of truth came too fast for his liking. When he saw the door to the building open his heart started hammering, he figured he’d die of a heart attack before any kind of violence if this kept up. Several scantily clad girls rushed out and into the backseat of the car. He heard gunshots, (which scared the shit out of him to be quite honest), before Hansol ran out the building and jumped into the car. Seungkwan panicked at this point, and threw the car into drive as fast as possible. He could only vaguely register Hansol screaming at him to drive as he attempted to get out onto the road without hitting anything.

When he got out onto the road he realized that people were following them, something he was 100% not prepared to deal with. He finally came back to his senses and started listening to the commands Hansol was yelling at him. He sped as fast as possible down the street and pulled out onto the main road without looking, which earned him an angry honk that he ignored. The people that were chasing them were stuck trying to get onto the road, which gave Seungkwan ample time to weave between cars and put distance between them. When he was a decent distance away Hansol finally relaxed, and Seungkwan did as well. He figured he may as well make some small talk to liven up the drive.

“So... do you ladies happen to have any diseases that I’ll need to bleach off my car seats?” Seungkwan wasn’t quite present after that endeavor, so his brain to mouth filter wasn’t working properly. Hansol laughed from the seat next to him and took a swig from his drink. Luckily, the girls seemed to be in good spirits.

“Probably, I’d do it just to be safe,” one of them replied.

Seungkwan nodded and let the rest of the drive continue in peace. When they arrived at their destination, Hansol told Seungkwan to let the girls off at the front, and directed him to a garage. When Seungkwan parked his car Hansol turned to him and made his heart swell up from his words again.

“Thank you so much Seungkwan, I’m happy to be working with you, while you’re here you’ll have to stay in my room, is that okay?”

It was more than okay to Seungkwan, he was positive he was about to spontaneously combust, but he managed to nod. Hansol laughed gently, and said something Seungkwan wasn’t expecting at all.

“You’re kinda cute Seungkwan, has anyone ever told you that before?”

Seungkwan actually stopped breathing that time. He couldn’t compute, the amazingly handsome man had just called him cute. He looked like a potato next to Hansol, and he called him cute.

“My mom has,” Way to go Seungkwan, so smooth, not even a thank you.

Hansol laughed again, Seungkwan figured he could get used to it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These first few chapters are a bit rough because they're pretty old, but the writing gets much better further in. The first 8 chapters are already written, I'm just transferring the story over here

When the two of them got out of the car they began walking toward what looked like a small workshop area. Inside it stood a bored looking man and a man who looked like he’d never been in garage before. He was looking around in wonder, his mouth hanging open slightly. He was excitedly pointing at things and seemed to be asking questions. While they were walking over to them Seungkwan could hear bits and pieces of their conversation.

“Wow, what’s that? It looks so weird.” Yep, definitely never been in a garage before.

“That’s a wrench.” The other guy didn’t seem too enthusiastic about being questioned.

“What does it do?”

“It gives people concussions when they don’t shut up.”

“Someone’s a grumpy pants” Seungkwan muttered to himself. Hansol laughed a bit at his words.

“I’m gonna tell him you said that,” Hansol teased.

Seungkwan’s eyes widened in fear, “Please don’t, he looks scary, and we haven’t even met yet, what if he hates me?”

Hansol laughed again, “He’s not going to hate you and he’s not scary, he just looks intimidating,” Hansol explained.

When the two of them finally reached the workshop the men noticed them. The excitable one instantly lost interest in the tools and practically bounced over to them.

“Hello! What are your names?” He got a bit too close for comfort which made Seungkwan and Hansol back away slightly. Seungkwan noticed that he was rather tall, (ok, that was a bit of an exaggeration, he was practically a giant,) but Seungkwan was, as much as he refused to admit it, short, so everyone felt tall to him. Seungkwan was surprised that he was asking for both of their names, shouldn’t Hansol already know these people?

“Leave them alone, they just got here and they’re probably tired.” The other man was more intimidating despite the fact that he was shorter, Seungkwan felt like if he looked him directly in the eye he’d lose a piece of his soul (Seungkwan was also afraid of anything and everything,) so he kept his eyes on the ground.

The tall man immediately backed off and apologized, looking like a scolded child. Seungkwan thought he was fairly attractive, (not as attractive as Hansol though). Actually, the intimidating man was quite attractive as well. Seungkwan was easily overwhelmed by handsome men, it was actually surprising him that he was still so composed, he figured it was the leftover shock from the prostitute ordeal.

“Go easy on him Wonwoo, he hasn’t seen new people in years.” The scary man- Wonwoo, apparently- glanced over as his companion and his expression softened.  
Seungkwan didn’t understand this statement, and since it’s been established that he has no brain to mouth filter, he had to question.

“Years?” he questioned. He wasn’t sure if he actually had the right to question, he had just met them less than five minutes before, but luckily he didn’t seem bothered.

“Yep, about five years ago I got kidnapped and genetically engineered by these people’s,” he gestured to Hansol and Wonwoo, “rival gang.”

Seungkwan hadn’t expected anything and was still surprised.

“So are you like a mutant, do you have super powers?” When he realized the possibilities his eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas, he could be talking to a real life superhuman!

“Not superpowers per se, but I do have some above average capabilities, I don’t get sick easily and I’m pretty strong, but that’s about it.” Seungkwan wished he had super powers, that’d be super cool.

Suddenly a strange expression came over his face and he jumped a bit, Seungkwan half thought it was the mutant super powers and was slightly disappointed when he spoke.

“Oh! I just realized I never introduced myself, I’m not really used to doing that anymore,” he smiled apologetically, Seungkwan was a bit afraid of his teeth because those canines looked like they could tear him apart in half a second, “I’m Mingyu, nice to meet you! Both of you of course,” he said, turning a bit toward Hansol as he spoke.

“I’m Seungkwan, that’s Hansol but he seems kind of shy,” he waved his hand in Hansol’s general direction dismissively, he was more interested in superman at the moment, “tell me about your weird genetic engineering.” Seungkwan was kind of demanding, it was a basic character flaw. Luckily Mingyu didn’t care much for social conventions (a side effect of being isolated from humanity for years) so he was happy to respond.

“Well, it all started a few years back, I don’t actually remember when, I got picked up off the side of the road by some random people. It was raining so I didn’t think much when they offered to drive me home.” Mingyu didn’t seem upset, it didn’t even seem like these memories were painful at all.

“Didn’t your parents ever tell you not to get into cars with strangers?” Hansol asked jokingly, he didn’t want to be entirely left out of the conversation, Wonwoo had gotten to work on one of the cars in the garage, so he only had Seungkwan and Mingyu to talk to.

“My parents left me on the streets so they really didn’t teach me anything, but yes, I was taught something along those lines,” Hansol immediately paled when Mingyu spoke, he gaped at him for a second before quickly trying to backtrack.

“I didn’t mean to-” Mingyu cut him off by laughing loudly, Hansol still had a look of complete horror on his face.

“It’s ok man, I don’t get offended.”

“He’s right about that one, I’ve tested it,” Wonwoo piped up from underneath a car.  
Hansol checked his phone and his eyes widened a bit.

“I’m sorry, but we have to be on our way now, it was really nice meeting you,” he smiled at them apologetically.

“I’ll have to come back so you can finish the story, nice to meet you superman,” Seungkwan said to Mingyu before turning to where Wonwoo had emerged and nodding.

“Come back anytime!” Mingyu smiled brightly and waved at them. Wonwoo nodded from his side.

Hansol and Seungkwan began their walk toward the elevators near the workshop. Hansol pressed the “up” button and the two sat in comfortable silence. Seungkwan was imagining an elaborate alternate universe involving superhumans, mostly about Hansol being a superhuman and saving him from his untimely demise. The ding of the elevator startled him, and it must have been fairly obvious if Hansol’s chuckles were anything to go by.

Seungkwan broke the silence when they stepped inside the elevator.

“If you could have any superpower what would it be?”

Hansol pursed his lips in concentration for a second.

“Um, probably flight, pretty basic but I think it would be useful, what about you?”

“That’s easy, teleportation, flying without the hassle.” Seungkwan thought he was quite the deep thinker when he wanted to be.

Hansol laughed at his response as the elevator slowed to a stop. They stepped out into another area similar to the first building, except this one was fully furbished and obviously lived in. Straight ahead there was a living room area, with two large off-white couches, complete with permanent butt imprints and frayed pillows. To the left there was a bunch of high tables like you would see in fast food restaurants and stools in front of a wall full of windows. This view was much better, you could see the bustling city, and Seungkwan could only imagine how beautiful it looked at night. To the right there was a kitchen, the sink was full of dishes (relatable) and the counter was crowded with snacks (Seungkwan was on a diet so he tried not to look too long). Hansol led him through the living room and up a tiny flight of stairs to a door. He knocked once before entering, inside the room was Chan, who had obviously arrived while the pair were dealing with the prostitutes.

“Good to see you’re still alive,” He turned from his computer and smiled brightly at them, “I’d be pretty disappointed if you were already dead.”

Seungkwan was strangely proud of those words, hell yeah he wasn’t dead yet!

“Take the rest of the day to settle in, if you need to go and get some stuff from your house you can.” He turned back to his computer, effectively dismissing them.  
They walked back out into the living room together, but Hansol directed Seungkwan to a couch and sat him down.

“It’s been a long day already, I’m sure you’re tired, we can go get your stuff tomorrow.” He said as he walked toward the kitchen, “Do you want something to drink? Or are you hungry?”

“Can I just have water please?” Seungkwan had manners in the bag.

Hansol returned from the kitchen with two glasses, he handed one to Seungkwan and set the other on the table beside the couch.

“Is your mom going to be wondering where you are?” Hansol asked.

“No, we don’t see each other much because I’m always at work, I leave before she gets up and come home after she’s asleep.” Seungkwan missed seeing his mother, but the only way he’d have any chance to see her at all was if he kept working. He remembered what Chan had said earlier, about this job being worth more than his others, and hoped that it would be different now; if his mother really was close to the end he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.

“Really the only time I see her is when I take her to the doctors” His mother wasn’t supposed to drive anymore because of all the medicine, so he had to take her to faraway places; she could walk to the convenience store near the house, and Seungkwan got the groceries, so she had no need to go anywhere else.

“I’m sorry. You must love her a lot if you go through this much for her.” Hansol looked at him sympathetically while he spoke.

“She raised me, it’s the least I can do. She struggled for my happiness, and I want to repay her for her sacrifices.” Seungkwan felt tiny tears behind his eyes, but willed them away.

Hansol shifted closer and put his arm around him.

“I know it hurts, but maybe you should talk to her about it and see what she wants. She obviously loves you a lot, and I’m sure she hates seeing you struggle like this.” Hansol squeezed him a bit as he spoke.

Hansol had hit Seungkwan’s weak spot, he avoided talking to his mother about it because he knew she would tell him to stop sacrificing so much for her. He knew she would tell him to let her go and live his life freely, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t live knowing he hadn’t tried his hardest for the person who had literally given him life. But part of him knew that his mother wasn’t going to survive, and Seungkwan tried so hard to ignore it, he would easily take another job if it meant that he could somehow make her well again. He couldn’t stop the tears that came, and he burst into sobs. He put his face in his hands and felt Hansol pulling him closer. Hansol held him in his arms and rubbed his back gently, whispering soothing things to him.

“I don’t want to give up” he managed to choke out, Hansol handed him his water. Seungkwan calmed himself as he drank, and soon enough, he was returning to normal. He wiped his eyes and chuckled a little.

“Whew, I got a little intense there, that happens sometimes,” Seungkwan was marvelously bad at dealing with his emotions.

“I understand,” Hansol pushed Seungkwan’s hair out of his face, “Do you want to go get something to eat? We don’t really have much here, Chan doesn’t eat and I live off of instant food and potato chips.”

What can he say, Seungkwan is always up for food, diet or not. Offering to buy him food is a 100% proven way to make him forget he’s upset. Hansol really was after his heart.

“Yes please,” He flashed Hansol his best smile, the snot on his face mixed with his swollen cheeks and red face made him look more like Bob the tomato than a cute guy you want to buy food for, but nevertheless, Hansol smiled back at him and offered him a hand to help him up. Thankfully, the blush that settled on his cheeks from holding Hansol’s hand was completely masked by his discolored face. The two walked toward the elevator, and Hansol finally let go of his hand to press the button. As usual, they sat in silence until they got in the elevator.

“Where do you want to go?” Hansol asked.  
Seungkwan hated people who didn’t give direct answers to questions like that, so he refused to be one of them.

“There has to be a McDonald’s around here” Seungkwan would get a large sized Big Mac meal or he would die trying. His diet could politely, excuse his French, go fuck itself.

“Of course there is, this is America.” Hansol replied.

“Do you know how irritating it is when there’s no McDonald’s nearby? Sometimes all I want is ten chicken McNuggets and I go to look for the nearest McDonald’s and there’s none. It isn’t fair, and frankly, it’s a bit offensive.” Seungkwan huffed, he could get quite spirited about almost anything.  
Hansol laughed as they got off the elevator, they hadn’t gone all the way down to the garage, they’d gone to the ground floor. Seungkwan thought the lobby was pleasant, it was a calm blue color with white accents, and he felt at ease as they walked out. It was late afternoon, almost evening, so many people hurried on their way home from work. Seungkwan lived in the suburbs, so he wasn’t entirely used to the city atmosphere. The pair set off down the sidewalk, walking leisurely compared to most of the other pedestrians, and fell into a comfortable silence. When he saw the blessed golden arches coming into view, Seungkwan began to get excited.

“Wow, it’s been so long since I’ve been out to eat. Thank you so much for taking me.” Seungkwan smiled brightly at Hansol. Regardless of his looks, Seungkwan thought Hansol was an entirely ideal man, he was kind and caring and everything else Seungkwan was looking for.

“Don’t mention it, it’s the least I could do for you, you need a break.” Hansol returned the smile, “You’re cute when you smile like that, you should do it more often.”

Seungkwan thought his genuine smile (the one that Hansol had just called cute) was quite ugly, but he figured Hansol wouldn’t lie to him, so he made a mental note to smile more. He bounced excitedly up to the counter, where a very bored looking employee asked him for his order.

“Um, I’d like a number one, large sized please,” Hansol stepped up and ordered for himself, “have a great night!” Seungkwan said sincerely as the worker handed him their cups. They looked honestly astounded, as if they had never been spoken to by a customer like that. After a second they smiled at the two and wished them a goodnight as well. On their way to the drink machine Hansol commended him.

“You know, I’m sure McDonald’s workers don’t get many kind words, I’m sure you just made someone very happy.”

“It’s not a big deal, you should always be polite to everyone.” Seungkwan’s mother had always told him this, always be polite, you have no idea how it will affect the other person, it could be the difference between a good or bad day. Seungkwan settled into a booth while Hansol went to get the food. Seungkwan was so ready to punch his diet in the face. He could lose ten pounds some other time, right now he had a date with a Big Mac (and later the toilet, McDonald’s food goes right through him.)

When Hansol returned they immediately dug into their food in silence, and finished far too quickly for Seungkwan’s liking. They refilled their drinks and began their walk back. The sun had set by this point and the lights of the city had come on. Seungkwan loved the city at night, it filled him with an indescribable feeling. He skipped down the sidewalk happily, and despite the fact that this was one of the weirdest days of his life (he quite literally joined a gang) he was the happiest he’d been in a long time.

Hansol hurried to catch up with him and they walked side by side the rest of the way home. They stayed in their comfortable silence all the way back up to the apartment, Seungkwan humming contentedly the whole way. Hansol led him to a room down the hallway where Chan’s office was.

It was obviously Hansol’s bedroom, which made Seungkwan blush pretty intensely, and his foot-in-mouth syndrome returned in full force.

He, all too seriously, turned directly to Hansol and said, “Wow, taking me to bed already? We’ve only been on one date. You’re a fast mover, practically a speed demon.” He was incapable of stopping himself from saying things like that, he’d mentally cast himself off the building at least fifty times in the past second alone.

Luckily, Hansol wasn’t fazed by Seungkwan’s inability to filter himself.

“Usain Bolt has nothing on me” he winked at Seungkwan and closed the door behind them.

The room was nice, it had light purple walls, very large windows with a great view of the city, and best of all, an attached bathroom. The McDonald’s was itching to make a reappearance.

“Does your toilet clog easily?” Seungkwan hated weak toilets, survival of the fittest should apply to household utilities.

“Nope,” Hansol was confident in his toilet, this made Seungkwan happy.

“Nice, so what’s the plan Stan? I don’t even have clothes to change into.”

Hansol pointed at a small sofa near the windows, “That’s a pull out couch, don’t worry, it’s very comfortable, and if it’s not you can have my bed and I’ll sleep there, as for clothes, just borrow mine until we can pick up your stuff.”

Seungkwan almost passed out from that statement. First of all, thinking about Hansol’s bed made his knees weak (he was a lonely healthy young man, don’t judge him) and second of all wearing Hansol’s clothes made his heart weak (he was a lonely romantic young man, don’t judge him.)

“Is that ok?” Hansol asked.

“Yeah, it’s fine” Seungkwan replied, but their conversation was cut short by Seungkwan’s stomach. Nature was calling, and it refused to go to voicemail. Hansol laughed as Seungkwan hurried himself off to the bathroom to regret his large sized Big Mac meal while he began to prepare the couch bed. It was a calm end to an eventful day, but neither of them would have it any other way.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's probably a few grammatical errors in this one. I didn't reread it before I reposted it here to be honest
> 
> Please leave me a comment!

Seungkwan slept surprisingly well on the pullout couch, Hansol hadn’t been lying when he said it was comfortable. He was programmed to wake up at six every morning for his morning job, so he awoke naturally while the sun was rising. From his place on the couch he could see perfectly out the windows; luckily, the windows faced east and he could see streaks of color branching out from behind the buildings. The city below seemed strangely peaceful despite the ever-packed sidewalks and streets, bathed in a soft glow and relative silence. Seungkwan hadn’t taken the time to appreciate something as simple as a sunrise in a very long, too long for someone his age.

He was completely broken out of his reverie by the realization that he had yet to resign from his jobs, one of which he was due at in half an hour. He immediately started panicking and jumped off the couch. When he finally remembered that it didn’t matter if he got fired he began to calm down, but that wasn’t until after he’d stomped into the bathroom and slammed the door. He cursed the fact that he was a horrible house guest before quietly opening the door to peek out at Hansol. Sadly, he had woken him up, he was sitting up in his bed blinking slowly, as if he were trying to figure out why he had been cruelly awoken at this ungodly hour.

“Sorry about that, I forgot I didn’t have to go to work,” Seungkwan whispered apologetically, but his words fell on deaf ears. Hansol looked at his bedside clock, which read 6:04, before turning slowly to Seungkwan.

“Are you dying?” Hansol asked slowly.

The sound of his deep early morning voice made Seungkwan’s heart flutter, and, for the record, he thought it was unfair that Hansol looked so good in the morning, it took Seungkwan multiple cups of coffee before he looked like a functioning human.

“No,” he managed to squeak. Hansol nodded, and immediately laid back down. Seungkwan could relate to that feeling so much, and he wished he could go back to bed, but he had to call his work and tell them that he wouldn’t be in today, or any day, for that matter. He could just not show up, but he figured that’d be a dick move. He unplugged his phone and called his boss, who was in his humble opinion, an awful person, and spent the next ten minutes getting an earful about responsibility and eventually getting fired. He had to resist the temptation to tell exactly what he thought about her, thanked her for her time, and hung up. One down, two to go, but hey, if he got fired he didn’t have to put in a weeks’ notice.

He couldn’t call his second job yet, they weren’t open, he’d just have to go to the mall later on and explain in person. His third job was at the movie theater, but they were overstaffed and probably wouldn’t miss him anyway, he should probably visit them in person too. He wasn’t sure his boss even knew his name, considering the fact that it was always spelled wrong on the calendar.

So he was left with nothing to do, he couldn’t go back to sleep, he wasn’t tired; he couldn’t wake Hansol up, that was rude. He quietly slipped out of the room to explore the apartment, he wandered into the kitchen to look for food, but Hansol’s statement from yesterday proved true, there was absolutely nothing of substance to eat.

“If you want something to eat you’ll have to get something from a restaurant, or you could go grocery shopping if you don’t want to gain twenty pounds during your stay here,” A voice rang out from behind him.

He just about jumped out of skin, he was easily startled by sudden noises, or loud noises, or just about any noise that he wasn’t 100% expecting. He turned toward the source of the voice and saw Chan perched on top of the counter. He was just sitting there, not even on his phone or anything, which made Seungkwan uncomfortable, really, who just sits these days? On a counter no less, not even cushioned seating.

“Oh, thanks,” they sat in awkward silence for a few seconds, Seungkwan hated awkward silences, he had to make small talk, “Why are you up so early?” he asked.

Chan continued staring at him as he responded, “I don’t sleep.”

Seungkwan was a bit afraid, what kind of person doesn’t sleep or eat? Robots and vampires, that’s who.

“Why not?” he asked, trying his best to keep a friendly tone.

“I can’t,” Chan answered with finality. Seungkwan nodded and hightailed it out of the kitchen. He was slightly (incredibly) intimidated by Chan. He was intimidated by everyone though, so it really wasn’t that much of an accomplishment.

He figured his best bet was to wait until Hansol woke up and see what happened from there. He plopped himself down on the couch and watched the sunrise continue. He must have dozed off because the next thing he knew the room was very bright and sunny and Hansol was shaking him awake.

“Hey, why are you out here? Were you uncomfortable? Did I snore loudly and annoy you?” Seungkwan couldn’t handle so many questions at once, especially when he just woke up, so he put his hand over Hansol’s mouth to silence him. Hansol looked absolutely scandalized, and Seungkwan would have laughed but he was still out of it.

“I woke you up at like six, don’t you remember? I fell asleep waiting for you to get up, lazy ass,” Seungkwan was quite aggressive when someone woke him up, but Hansol didn’t mind.

“Nope, I don’t remember at all, but you fell asleep again, so who’s the real lazy ass?” He pulled his face away from Seungkwan’s hand to respond.

Seungkwan sat up slowly and looked at the clock on the wall, 10:25. He yawned and stretched his arms. He chose to ignore Hansol’s words and discuss the real matter at hand.

“I’m hungry, you woke me up so now you have to feed me,” Seungkwan said commandingly.

“Yes your highness, what is it that you want?” Hansol replied teasingly.

By the way they spoke to each other you wouldn’t think they’d only met the day before, but for some reason they’d clicked very easily. Seungkwan was also pretty certain he had a very tiny crush on Hansol so that helped.

“I want McDonald’s, it’s past breakfast time thanks to you though.” Seungkwan liked McDonald’s ok? Don’t judge him.

“Of course it’s my fault, let’s go get your McDonald’s.” Hansol said cheerily, and pulled him off the couch.

The two of them got ready to go for the day and went on their way to the elevator. On their way down Hansol asked for their plans for the day.

“Well, I have to visit two of my jobs and resign, then we should run by my house and get my stuff,” Seungkwan wasn’t looking forward to going home, how was he supposed to explain this situation to his mother? She was sick but she wasn’t senile, she’d know something strange was going on, and who wants to tell their mom they were working for a gang?

“Cool beans,” Hansol responded.

“Cool beans? Did you honestly just say ‘cool beans’? What even are you?” Seungkwan was amazed by how incredibly uncool Hansol actually was, but still thought he was charming in his own way.

“What? You don’t like my hip and cool lingo?” Hansol crossed his arms in front of his chest in a stereotypical “gangster” pose.

Seungkwan elected not to answer. They stepped out of the elevator into the garage, where Wonwoo sat alone reading what looked like a Reader’s Digest magazine.

“Morning Wonwoo,” Hansol greeted happily. Wonwoo nodded in response.

“Where’s superman?” Seungkwan asked, looking around the garage to make sure he couldn’t see him. Wonwoo pointed at a car near the workshop, where Seungkwan could see two long legs hung over the backseat. Seungkwan wasn’t interested enough to ask, so the two of them continued to Seungkwan’s car. When they passed the car Mingyu was in Seungkwan looked into the window and saw him asleep across the seats. He hoped his superpowers prevented him from backaches because that position was highly unnatural.

The drive to the nearby McDonald’s was uneventful, they made small talk and listened to Hansol’s rap channel, Seungkwan wasn’t quite the biggest fan, but it wasn’t the worst music he’d ever heard. They ate in relative silence, both enjoying the New and Improved chicken McNugget, which Seungkwan had to admit, was much better than the original.

“Where to next?” Hansol asked as they left the restaurant.

“The mall just outside the city,” Seungkwan figured now was a good time to face his other bosses.

“You work in the mall? What store?” Hansol asked.

Seungkwan blushed slightly in embarrassment, “You’ll see when we get there,” he could already imagine how Hansol would make fun of him when he found out.

Seungkwan had never realized how bad his road rage was until he’d driven in the city.

“You have a green light press the fucking gas pedal!” He yelled at the people ahead of him. Hansol looked mildly terrified in the passenger seat.

“Maybe you should calm down,” he suggested while Seungkwan slammed on the horn again.

“I’ll calm down when this asshole in front of me learns how to fucking drive.” He responded with a bit more force than necessary.

“Maybe we should put the windows up then,” Hansol made another suggestion, but Seungkwan had another, much better suggestion.

“How about you shut your damn mouth so I can drive, that’d be great.” Seungkwan groaned as someone cut in front of him.

“No need to be rude, I’m just trying to help.” Hansol held up his hands in surrender and prayed that Seungkwan didn’t run into anyone out of spite.

Seungkwan continued his screaming all the way out of the city, and felt justifiably embarrassed when they were out of the traffic.

“Hey, I’m sorry about that, didn’t mean to yell at you. Or showcase my, um, colorful vocabulary.” He looked at the wheel in shame when they stopped at a red light. Hansol laughed a bit at his expression.

“It’s ok, it was actually kind of funny. I don’t care how you talk to be honest, you’ll probably hear worse from me eventually,” Hansol was always so kind, it made Seungkwan’s heart race.

They pulled up to the mall shortly after. Seungkwan began to get nervous as they walked toward the kiosk he worked at. When they approached it a man who had been blowing intricate smoke (technically vapor) designs greeted them.

“Seungkwan, buddy, where’s your uniform?” he asked. The uniform consisted of a neon t-shirt with the company’s logo on it.

“About that, I kind of need to resign, like now, I can’t come back to work ever,” He hoped they wouldn’t make him work for the rest of the week, he didn’t know how well Chan would be able to handle it if they decided to sue him or something.

“Oh dude, that’s a bummer, you’re a good worker. Can I ask why you’re leaving?”

Seungkwan figured a thirty year old man working at a vape kiosk couldn’t judge him, so he told him the truth.

“I joined a gang,” technically he hadn’t joined them completely, he was just working for them, but he didn’t want to explain the fine details.

“Yep, that’ll do it, have fun, don’t get shot.” The man returned to his smoke creations, effectively dismissing Seungkwan.

As they began walking away from the kiosk, Hansol started giggling. Seungkwan pursed his lips in distaste.

“What’s so funny?” He asked, a bit too aggressively.

Hansol looked him dead in the eyes and asked, “Do you even vape bro?” and then burst out laughing.

Seungkwan’s eye twitched as Hansol laughed. He seriously considered kicking him in the balls, but he managed to restrain himself by telling himself that he’d never get to engage in any kind of hanky panky with Hansol if he destroyed the family jewels.

“No I do not vape ‘bro,’ I got that job for my mom.” Seungkwan had only worked the register, he didn’t blow any weird designs, and frankly, he didn’t deserve this.

“I’m sorry but that’s hilarious, you worked at a vape store.” Hansol finally managed to calm himself down, and he was wiping real tears from his eyes. Seungkwan was justifiably outraged, and he stomped out of the mall with Hansol trailing behind.

They got back into the car. Seungkwan was trying to think of a suitable punishment for Hansol. He was tied between leaving him on the side of the road and crashing into a telephone pole. Finally the perfect idea reached him.

“You’re banished to the couch bed,” that’ll teach him.

Hansol looked at Seungkwan with his eyebrows raised.

“Oh really, you’re kicking me out of my own bed?”

Seungkwan nodded.

“How do you intend to make that happen?” he asked.

“You’ll see,” Seungkwan said snootily. He pulled into a parking spot at the movie theater and walked up to the door. The place was as empty as ever, a new, modern theater had opened not too far and stolen all their customers. He walked into his boss’s office, and waited for his attention. The man looked at him for a second before finally recognizing him.

“Don’t you work the late shift?” he asked.

In all honesty, Seungkwan was tired, and he didn’t want to explain things to this guy too. He needed a nap and lunch before he could handle people.

“Not anymore,” He turned and walked out, not willing to deal with whatever his now ex-boss had to say. That job was stupid anyway, all he did was pick popcorn out of seat cushions.

He walked out to where he’d left Hansol and they left together.

“Well, I’m officially unemployed.” Seungkwan was relieved that it was over, he hated his old jobs quite passionately.

“No you’re not, you’re my only mode of transportation” Hansol ruffled his hair a bit condescendingly, but Seungkwan didn’t mind, he didn’t mind at all, he secretly really liked people touching his hair.

“Can’t you drive or something?” Seungkwan pushed him off the sidewalk as they walked to the parking lot.

“You don’t want to see me drive. I promise,” Hansol chuckled and pushed Seungkwan off the sidewalk as well.

“Now we have to go to my house,” It was time for the part of the trip that he was dreading. He was excited to see his mom, really he was, but he was afraid of disappointing her.

“Hey, don’t be upset, remember what we talked about yesterday.” Hansol said gently, “I know we practically just met, but I’m here for you, I promise.”

Seungkwan didn’t know how he’d gotten so lucky. Chan could’ve asked him to drive around a vicious ex-convict who’d escaped prison three times and had multiple face tattoos, but instead he got what might’ve been the kindest (handsomest) man Seungkwan had ever met.

The drive to his house was silent, and they pulled into the driveway far too fast for Seungkwan’s liking. They walked up to the peeling red door, Seungkwan fumbled with his keys until he found the house key and they walked inside. Seungkwan could hear the sounds from the T.V. in the other room.

“Seungkwan, is that you?” a weak voice called from the other room.

“Yeah,” he called back. They walked toward the voice together, and walked into a small living room. There were pictures hung up on the walls of multiple generations of Seungkwan’s family. A small T.V. sat playing reruns of the Brady Bunch. The house smelled vaguely of furniture polish and medicine. A very tired, weak looking woman sat on the flowery couch.

Seungkwan walked over to his mother and sat beside her.

“How are you feeling?” he asked gently as he put his arm around her. Hansol stood awkwardly in the doorway.

“I’m fine, why are you home so early, and who’s your friend?” she asked before addressing Hansol, “You can sit down dear,” she gestured to the armchair next to the couch. Hansol smiled at her before taking a seat.

“I quit my jobs, I got a new job that pays more, and I’ll have more time to spend with you. That’s Hansol, he’s my… coworker,” Seungkwan didn’t quite know how to describe Hansol.

“Hello,” Hansol greeted her, flashing a bright smile. She smiled in return.

“What kind of job?” she seemed suspicious, Seungkwan didn’t blame her, he’d be suspicious too.

“I’m his chauffeur,” he was making Hansol sound like a celebrity or something. He was attractive enough to be one.

“Whatever you say,” she didn’t look convinced, but she was unwilling to push the subject, “I’m happy you have less to do now,” she smiled happily at Seungkwan.

After the events of the day Seungkwan didn’t want to have this conversation so he took the easy way out.

“I came to get my stuff, I have to stay with him while I’m working,” he kissed his mother’s cheek and started out pf the room to the stairs, “I have to go, but I’ll come by soon.”

“Have fun dear,” she called as Seungkwan and Hansol walked up the stairs.

“Not feeling it right now?” Hansol asked.

Seungkwan didn’t respond. They made it to his room which was quite plain, it just had his bed and dresser. He packed some clothes into a bag and they made their way back downstairs. He waved to his mother as they passed through the room.

“I love you mom, I’ll see you soon,” he called as he opened the front door.

“I love you too,” she responded.

They walked back out towards the car. Seungkwan was very happy to see his mom, even if it was only for a few minutes. He was always a little upset when he saw her though, she looked so weak. Hansol broke the silence.

“She seems nice,”

Seungkwan laughed a little but didn’t speak. Hansol looked concerned, and stopped him before they got to the car.

“Are you ok Seungkwan?” Hansol was looking directly into his eyes, and Seungkwan’s brain short-circuited, and for the second time, Seungkwan burst into tears in front of Hansol. What can he say? He’s a crier.

Hansol pulled him into his arms gently, “It’s ok,” he was kind of bad at comforting people, but he figured Seungkwan would understand. They stood like that until Seungkwan stopped crying, but while he was waiting Hansol looked up at the house. In the big front window Seungkwan’s mother stood watching them. She and Hansol made eye contact for a few seconds and she nodded at him before turning around and walking away. Hansol squeezed Seungkwan tighter and put his head on his shoulder.

When Seungkwan finally composed himself they got in the car.

“Where to next?” Seungkwan’s voice was hoarse from crying. Hansol thought about it for a second.

“What do you like to do for fun?” Hansol wanted to cheer Seungkwan up.

Seungkwan thought about it for a few seconds. It had been a long time since he’d had time to himself to do anything he considered “fun”

“I like to sing, that’s about it,” He had studied vocal performance in college, that’d gotten him jack shit in the real world.

“Do you like karaoke?” Hansol poked his side repeatedly until Seungkwan swatted his hand away, but he was laughing so he obviously wasn’t too annoyed.

“I do, it’s been a long time though,” Seungkwan had been a karaoke enthusiast in college. That hadn’t gotten him very far either.

“We could go to a karaoke bar that I know,” Hansol suggested, eyebrows raised. He looked so excited that Seungkwan couldn’t possibly say no.

“Sound’s great, give me the directions and I’ll get us there, but can we eat first? I’m starving,” it was almost five o’clock, they hadn’t eaten since morning, Seungkwan wasn’t meant to go that long without eating. He’d lose his adorable squishy cheeks and no one messes with Seungkwan’s adorable squishy cheeks, thank you very much. He nodded along with his internal monologue, god he was hilarious, really, he made himself laugh every day.

“Sure thing, can we eat at an actual restaurant though, I’m already tired of McDonald’s,” Hansol complained, Seungkwan was also tired of McDonald’s, but he would never admit it.

“If we really have to… I guess I can part with my golden arches,” He shook his head as he spoke, as if it were a true shame.

They drove until they were back in the city, and they ate a chain restaurant that was just like every other cheap restaurant in the world. The arrived at the Karaoke bar around seven, and it was only mildly crowded. Seungkwan found himself becoming slightly self-conscious, what if he had lost his touch?

His fears never came to pass, because while Hansol was in the bathroom a man came up to Seungkwan and began talking to him.

“Hey, I’m Seungcheol, can I buy you a drink” the guy even wagged his eyebrows at him. Seungkwan was both amused and shocked. He’d really never been approached so… forwardly before.

“Um?” was all he could say before another man joined the scene, this was getting to be too much for Seungkwan too fast, he just wanted to sing.

“Excuse me, what do you think you’re doing?” he asked the strange man who was still attempting the wiggle his eyebrows at Seungkwan, “We’re here on business,” he smacked the man upside the head. Seungcheol didn’t care at all that he’d just gotten slapped, he continued with the eyebrows, Seungkwan was starting to get worried that he was having some kind of fit.

It was at that moment that Hansol returned from the bathroom and all hell broke loose. When he saw who Seungkwan was talking to (not really talking, more staring at in mild terror) he immediately pulled him away. The aggressive man, who Seungkwan noticed was rather short, (shorter than him, and anyone who was shorter than him made him feel like a million bucks,) pursed his lips in distaste.

“Hansol, fancy meeting you here,” Seungkwan already didn’t like him. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he was becoming rather protective over Hansol, nope, nothing.

“You too Jihoon, now we’ll be leaving, have a great night,” Hansol began pulling on his arm, but Seungkwan, tension or not, came to this bar for one thing and he was gonna get it. He tugged his arm out of Hansol’s grip.

“I wanna sing,” he pouted like a child. Hansol looked at him incredulously.

“We have to leave,” Hansol gritted his teeth and sent Seungkwan a warning glare. Seungkwan absolutely hated being told what to do, so he refused to move.

“Let the poor boy sing Hansol,” Jihoon sneered at him. Seungkwan really didn’t like him. Hansol turned to Seungkwan, ignoring Jihoon completely.

“How did you start talking to them?” Seungkwan got the idea that he should stop being a brat.

“The big one,” Seungkwan had already forgotten his name, “tried to hit on me.” Apparently this statement didn’t sit well with Jihoon.

“If he’s the big one what am I?” He looked expectantly at him as if he were daring him to answer. It’s been established that Seungkwan has no brain to mouth filter, especially when he’s upset.

“That wasn’t an insult aimed at you, but since you took it as one I can tell you’re compensating,” he completely ignored Seungcheol and Hansol’s looks of horror and continued his spiel, “and to tell you the truth, you look like a twelve year old, so that would make you the small one,” he sounded so absolutely condescending he was almost proud, he’d hit a new level of petty.

Jihoon lunged at him but thankfully Seungkwan’s reflexes were pretty good. He easily stepped out of the way, and instead of doing the smart thing and shutting up, he continued taunting him.

“Ooh, feisty,” he laughed slightly manically, who needs singing when you have adrenaline?

This is when thing got a bit blurry, literally blurry, Jihoon threw a bottle at his head. Suffice to say, it hurt like a bitch and he went down like a sack of bricks. He’s not entirely sure what happened next, but he found himself on the road outside, he watched Jihoon and Seungcheol stalk away, and he could faintly hear Jihoon complaining as they walked. Hansol was beside him, rubbing his jaw. His mouth was dripping blood, which shocked Seungkwan out of his stupor.

“Are you ok?” Stupid question, but it must be asked.

“I think so, I don’t think my jaw’s broken, the blood is from my teeth,” Hansol replied as he spit out a mouthful of blood, but thankfully no teeth came with it. Seungkwan was happy his jaw wasn’t broken, that jawline would be a shame to lose. He mentally berated himself for thinking about superficial things while they had an actual issue on their hands, but the truth stands.

“The real question is, are you ok? Your head is bleeding,” Seungkwan reached up and touched a place on his head that hurt a bit, there was only a bit of blood, the cut didn’t feel deep at all.

“I’m fine, I guess we just look worse than we are,” Seungkwan couldn’t help but smile for some reason.

“It’s getting late, let’s go home,” Hansol held out a hand to help Seungkwan up. It was only 8:30, but it felt much later to them. As they got in the car Seungkwan came to a very important realization.

“I never got to sing,” Hansol laughed at him from the passenger seat, spewing blood and spit out of his mouth. Seungkwan was actually put out about not being able to sing.

“You’re definitely going on the couch tonight,” Seungkwan muttered as he began driving them toward home. Hansol just kept laughing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna rewrite these first few chapters eventually.

Hansol and Seungkwan eventually made it back to the apartment, where they found Chan sitting cross legged on the sofa. He had a grim expression on his face, but it changed back to his usual mask of indifference when he noticed he wasn’t alone anymore. He raised an eyebrow when he saw the state they were in.

“Rough night?” He looked mildly concerned, “will you be ok by tomorrow? I have stuff for you to do.”

“Yes and yes,” Hansol replied, “unless this one,” he gestured to Seungkwan, “has a concussion, but I don’t think he does because he drove here just fine.”

Seungkwan nodded, “No concussion here, I’ve never had a concussion though so I don’t really know what it would feel like.”

Chan stared at him for a few seconds before completely ignoring him and turning back to Hansol.

“What happened to you guys?” he asked, getting up off the couch and walking toward where they were standing.

Hansol shifted his weight and looked out the window. Seungkwan figured this was a sign of some sort so he went along with it. He stared out the window for all he was worth. It apparently worked, Chan dismissed them.

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow, you two look like shit, get some sleep.” With that, he turned and walked into his office. Seungkwan walked out into the living room to turn off the TV, gotta save the environment, and noticed Chan had been watching the news, quite fitting, but Seungkwan was hoping he’d secretly been watching a soap opera or something, that’d be hilarious.

Hansol had gone into the kitchen so Seungkwan decided to meet him in there. He needed to go grocery shopping, too much fast food would ruin his figure. The actual truth was that he probably needed to gain weight, all the stress from three jobs and a dying mother pretty much wrecked his health, but he tried not to think about that. Hansol was digging in the fridge, there wasn’t much in there besides soda and takeout boxes, but the smell was pretty awful, Seungkwan was almost positive something was rotting in there. Hansol eventually unearthed two water bottles and turned around, he jumped a bit when he saw Seungkwan right behind him.

“I didn’t know you were there, you move quietly,” he seemed a bit shaken, more than he should be by being startled.

Seungkwan raised his eyebrows a bit as he accepted the water bottle he was handed.

“Are you ok?” he asked, unscrewing the cap and taking a swig, making sure to fix Hansol with his most suspicious look, (in actuality he just looked like he was intensely squinting.)

“I’m fine, you’ll hear all about it in the morning when we talk to Chan,” Hansol responded and began walking toward his room. Seungkwan followed suit, he was dead tired.

When they arrived Seungkwan was instructed to clean himself off. Hansol followed him into the bathroom and pulled a box of Band-Aids out of the cabinet. Seungkwan washed his face and allowed Hansol to stick a Band-Aid on him. His heart fluttered bit as he did, and he thought Hansol’s concentrated face was quite adorable. Hansol rinsed out his mouth and turned the bowl of the sink a spectacular shade of bright red, but no teeth had magically come out on the ride home so that was a plus.

“Hansol, I’m sorry about what happened today. I didn’t mean to start problems,” Seungkwan said quietly when they had both settled down to go to sleep.

“It’s ok, it’s not your fault, don’t beat yourself up over it,” he responded.

Seungkwan felt really guilty about what had happened, they were supposed to be having a good time and he ruined it. He didn’t respond to what Hansol said, he laid quietly and stared down at the streets, still alive with people. It really wasn’t that late, but it might as well have been the middle of the night to them, they were absolutely exhausted. Seungkwan drifted off to sleep shortly after, dreaming about flying bottles and his beloved mother.

 

The next morning came far too quickly for Seungkwan’s liking, and the events of the night before caught up to him. His head was throbbing under the Band-Aid and his stomach was practically crying from hunger. He wanted to turn over and go back to sleep, but the multiple pains wouldn’t allow it. He sat up slowly, he was incredibly dizzy, and tried to get off the couch. He stumbled a bit, but managed to walk to the bathroom without falling. He looked in the mirror and barely recognized himself. The place where the bottle had hit him had swelled immensely, painting the entire left side of his face bright purple. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy, he looked about as bad as he felt. He did his business and took a shower.

By the time he got out of the bathroom Hansol had begun to stir. He looked no better than Seungkwan, his jaw was swollen and bruised. He blinked slowly as he sat up, he furrowed his eyebrows at Seungkwan.

“Wow, you look like shit,” he said, Seungkwan couldn’t even be offended, it was true.

“Right back at you,” he walked out of the room to give Hansol some privacy and went to the kitchen. There were several other doors in the hallway, but he didn’t know where they led to. He knew one was Hansol’s room and one was Chan’s office, he figured one was a bathroom, but the others were mysteries. The fridge hadn’t magically spawned edible food during the night unfortunately, dooming Seungkwan to another day full of fast food. He was slightly putting off buying groceries because he’d have to clean out the disgusting refrigerator for them to fit.

Hansol came into the kitchen shortly after, apparently unfazed by the stench because he started looking through the fridge for something. Unsatisfied, he turned to Seungkwan.

“We should really clean out this fridge and get real food,” he stated, looking at the offending utility with a judging expression, as if he were personally offended by its inability to feed him.

“What is this ‘we’? That’s your fridge, you clean it. I have nothing to do with this,” Seungkwan was 100% in favor of making Hansol clean by himself. Then the hard work would be done and he could start eating regular food again.

“It’s actually Chan’s fridge if we want to get technical,” Hansol said teasingly, “Speaking of, we should probably go talk to him about what happened.”

Seungkwan wasn’t sure what had happened to be incredibly honest, but it seemed like it was a big deal so he decided to stay quiet and try to figure out what was going on. The two of them left the kitchen and walked to Chan’s office silently. He was staring intently at his computer screen when they walked in, but turned his attention to them quickly.

“Are you going to tell me what happened now?” Chan asked when they were seated in front of the desk. Hansol nodded and began the story.

“We ran a few errands and decided to go to a karaoke bar to wind down. While we were there we got in an altercation with some of your favorite people,” Chan’s eyebrow raised at Hansol’s words, and he leaned forward slightly, “Seungcheol and Jihoon, they did this,” Chan’s lip curled in disgust. It seemed like he wasn’t a big fan of them.

“Disgusting,” he muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

They sat in silence while Chan mulled over the information he’d been given.

“Well, they’re obviously getting braver, maybe we’ll get more information now. Keep your eyes open. I have a job for you to do today. I need you to go pick up one of our contacts,” he gave them an address and bid them farewell. Neither of them spoke as they made their way down to the garage where they were greeted by Mingyu and Wonwoo, both of whom seemed shocked by the state they were in.

“What happened to you guys?” Mingyu asked, quickly walking over to them to examine them closely, Wonwoo followed suit, with a similar look of confusion and distress on his face.

“Just a little bar fight, nothing serious,” Hansol told them casually. This explanation led Seungkwan to a completely different realization.

“Wait a minute, what actually happened to you? I was unconscious and when I woke up you were spitting out blood,” Seungkwan hadn’t stopped to actually wonder what had happened to Hansol, but now seemed like a good time to ask.

Hansol shifted his weight and looked toward the ground. The other three looked at him expectantly as they awaited his response.

“Obviously I got punched in the face,” he said. This was not a suitable answer in Seungkwan’s book, that wasn’t worth full points.

“By who, which one?” Seungkwan asked a bit impatiently, he hated when people beat around the bush when there was no doubt in his mind he’d eventually be told what he wanted to know.

Hansol stayed silent so Wonwoo turned to Seungkwan.

“Do you know who the people you fought with were? Obviously he’s not telling us for a reason,” he gestured at Hansol as he spoke, seemingly annoyed with him.

Seungkwan focused as he remembered what had happened the night before. The story ran through his head a few times (he was always scared of being wrong so he had to be absolutely sure) as he prepared his answer.

“I think their names were Seungcheol and Jihoon, don’t quote me though I sustained a head injury,” Seungkwan said, waiting to gauge Wonwoo’s reaction. Surprisingly, the strong reaction came from Mingyu.

“What did you just say?” he asked very seriously, he was staring at Seungkwan quite intensely. Seungkwan was taken aback, he wasn’t always very good under pressure so the situation was freaking him out a bit. He looked over at Hansol for help.

“Yes, that was them, that’s where we got you from isn’t it?” Hansol asked Mingyu. He nodded and looked at the ground as if he were embarrassed by his little outburst.

“I didn’t mean to overreact, I kind of forgot that they were still out there in the world,” He didn’t pick his head up as he spoke. Wonwoo seemed a bit distressed by Mingyu’s attitude as awkwardly stood behind him as if he were trying decide whether or not to comfort him.

“Well this is a completely different can of worms, I think that’s what the saying is at least,” Seungkwan to the awkward silence rescue!

Hansol chuckled uncomfortably, “We have somewhere to be right now so bye!” and then he turned and started speed walking away, truly no class. What a shame. But Seungkwan had no class either so he turned right around as well and walked away, waving as he left. They could feel the death glare Wonwoo was giving them, but if anyone was prepared to deal with emotional Mingyu it was him.

“So what was that about?” Seungkwan asked as they reached the car. They got in quickly and began their journey to the address they’d been given. Hansol answered him as they were pulling out of the garage.

“You know how Mingyu was kidnapped and then turned into a science experiment, those were the people who did it,” Hansol sighed.

Seungkwan hadn’t thought about what Mingyu had actually been through, he seemed ok talking about it. He found himself feeling sorry for him, and he was angry as well. He wished he would have known earlier, he felt almost bad about being relatively civil with Seungcheol before things went downhill.

“They’re the rivals Mingyu mentioned?” Seungkwan remembered him mentioning them during their conversation on the first day they’d met.

“Yes, I don’t like seeing them unless we have to. They’re different from us, they hurt people for no reason. Chan hates them, he may be a gang leader but he hates hurting people who don’t deserve it,” Hansol explained.

Seungkwan was a bit curious about the whole operation, he’d always been under the impression that gangs operated by killing people and other questionable crimes, but this one seemed different.

“Hansol, what is Chan trying to accomplish?” he asked.

Hansol sighed, “Nobody knows at this point, but he’s been preparing for something for years, he’s been bringing more people in recently so I think it’s gonna happen soon.”

Seungkwan wanted to know how Hansol ended up in a gang but figured that might be a bit of a sensitive subject so he decided to wait a little while longer. They took the rest of the drive in silence, eventually pulling up to an old, decrepit building with a gaudy neon sign reading “Perv’s Strip Club” in block letters. Seungkwan wasn’t impressed, anyone who went (or worked) in this place probably had about as much class as something with no class (Seungkwan couldn’t really think of anything to compare it to,) but he tried not to judge. He was in the process of trying to be a better person.

They walked into the building together, Seungkwan was pleasantly surprised that there was no stench or weird stains in the carpet. It certainly didn’t look like a strip club to Seungkwan, not that he’d ever been to one. There was a plain lobby with a few sofas (you couldn’t pay Seungkwan enough to sit one) and a desk with a bored looking man sitting at it, next to the desk there was a door on either side.

The man picked his head up when they walked in and greeted them, if you could really call it a greeting.

“Welcome to Perv’s, I’m sure you’ll fit right in,” he said in a monotone voice before returning to what he was doing.While they were still far enough away from the desk Seungkwan whispered a few questions to Hansol.

“Is this actually a strip club?” he made sure the man couldn’t hear him, he didn’t want to openly question the legitimacy of this… fine establishment.

“No, well technically yes but no, it’s a brothel,” Hansol responded.

“Why are we here?” Seungkwan asked.

“Our contact works here,” Hansol walked up to the desk after responding, leaving Seungkwan floundering by the door. Really? Another prostitute in his mom’s car? He hadn’t even put down towels in the backseat yet. He eventually made his way to the desk where Hansol was talking to the man. He handed Hansol a key and the two of them walked down one of the hallways to plain water stained door with a large number eight on it. Hansol knocked and they waited for a few seconds.

Seungkwan could honestly say he wasn’t expecting what he saw when the door opened. For one thing, he was expecting a girl, and this person definitely had masculine features. He was also expecting a person that looked more like the prostitutes they’d picked up a few days before, a skimpy outfit and bright makeup, but this person was barefaced and dressed casually. He walked out of the room, took Hansol’s key, locked the door and pocketed it. He then started striding down the hallway, all without speaking to them. Seungkwan was just a bit lost, in all honesty he was starting to get used to the weirdness. Once they made it back into the lobby their contact shot the man the nastiest glare Seungkwan had ever seen. Once they were outside he finally spoke.

“Where’s your car? I don’t have all day,” he looked around the entrance, tapping his foot impatiently. Seungkwan already wasn’t a fan of him, but he figured he wouldn’t be the one dealing with him. He was wrong, this (still nameless) person was the worst backseat driver Seungkwan had ever met.

“Why did you get over here? You could’ve waited, now we’re stuck in traffic,” he had an obnoxious nasally voice and Seungkwan wanted to run them off the road. Hansol didn’t want to die so he tried to make conversation.

“How about you introduce yourselves?” he prompted.

Seungkwan was the bigger person (literally, this guy looked like he weighed half as much as Seungkwan,) so he started.

“My name is Seungkwan, I’m his,” he gestured to Hansol, “driver, chauffeur, whatever it is,”

“My name is Minghao, I’m a prostitute,” he said in a false sweet voice, obviously mocking Seungkwan’s introduction. Seungkwan had a pretty high boiling point, but Minghao was raising the temperature too quickly.

“Well now that we all know each other we can get along,” Hansol said almost desperately.

There was relative silence until they came to a yellow light. Seungkwan didn’t like going through yellow lights, it made him nervous. He pulled the car to a stop, which was obviously unsatisfactory to a certain someone.

“Why did you stop, we had enough time to go through. You’re a pretty bad driver for a supposed ‘professional’” His voice was so annoying and awful Seungkwan finally cracked. He turned his head so he was looking Minghao right in the eyes.

“If you have a problem with my driving, get out. I’m sure you’ve had enough experience walking the streets anyway,” he turned back around just in time for the light to turn green. This was the exact same situation that had happened at the bar, Seungkwan didn’t know when he went too far, but luckily nothing was thrown at his head. Hansol was gaping at him from the passenger seat. The rest of the drive passed in complete silence.

When they finally arrived at the main building they parked and walked into the building. Mingyu and Wonwoo seemed to have sensed the tension since they avoided eye contact while they were walking. The elevator ride was awkward, but Seungkwan didn’t care much. He was bad at holding grudges so his earlier anger was almost completely gone, but he was sure Minghao would actually hate him for the rest of time, and he was ok with that.

When they got off the elevator Minghao stalked off to Chan’s office, leaving Hansol and Seungkwan in the living room. Hansol cleared his throat, and looked at him meaningfully. Seungkwan’s annoyance had returned slightly.

“If you have something to say just say it,”

Hansol looked taken aback before he composed himself.

“I think you were a bit rude back there. I won’t tell you to apologize because that’s kind of condescending,” Hansol looked a bit nervous, like he was afraid of making Seungkwan upset. Seungkwan didn’t feel like arguing about this, and he felt like he might cry (again) so he just turned around and walked away, out of the building, past Wonwoo and Mingyu who tried to call out to him, and onto the road.

Seungkwan was one to wallow in self-pity. He might as well feel bad for himself, no one else would. Whenever something bad happened it was always his fault. Minghao had obviously started it (he didn’t even care that he sounded like a child) but of course, Seungkwan was the one that had to apologize. He knew in the back of his mind that he was being petty and overdramatic, but he felt isolated. He had only met Hansol a short time before but he felt like they were friends. It always feels bad when your friends tell you you’re an asshole. This led Seungkwan’s mind down a rabbit hole of ‘what if he doesn’t want to be my friend anymore’ and he started feeling even worse.

He highly doubted he would get fired, he didn’t think Chan would care if he’d gotten in a petty argument, but he didn’t want to lose Hansol’s friendship. He felt tiny tears in his eyes but refused to cry. It didn’t matter if they weren’t friends because Seungkwan didn’t want to be his friend anyway, but the chances of the two of them actually dating were slim to none.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t notice someone calling his name. By the time he snapped out of his thoughts Hansol was right beside him. He looked a bit winded.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to make you upset, really,” Hansol said, his eyes were pleading. Seungkwan immediately felt relieved, but still kept his distance.

“Why did you come after me?” He looked down at the ground, the tears were still there so he tried to pull himself together.

“You should never let someone you care about walk away from you when they’re upset,” he said as he pushed Seungkwan’s hair out of his face. He pulled Seungkwan into his arms when he saw the tears, and for the nth time, Seungkwan started crying.

“I’m sorry for always crying about stupid stuff,” at least that’s what he tried to say, but it came out much less clearly, with lots of spit and snot accompanying it. Luckily, Hansol understood him and laughed.

“It’s not stupid if it makes you upset,” He still had his hands on Seungkwan’s face, the scene looked remarkably intimate to any onlookers.

Seungkwan laughed along with him.

“You say that now, but wait until you’ve had to deal with my tears for longer than a week, it gets tiring,” Seungkwan was only slightly joking.

“I think I’ll be fine, now let’s go home,” Hansol took his hand and starting pulling him back towards the building. Seungkwan blushed a bit, but it was camouflaged by the tears. The two of them made their way back together, and a bit of Seungkwan’s hope for being more than friends was restored.


	5. Chapter 5

A few days passed after the ‘incident,’ Seungkwan was still incredibly embarrassed that he lost his cool like that, but Hansol was going out of his way to make Seungkwan feel better. He cleaned out the fridge, cleaned his bathroom, cleaned every other surface of the apartment, it’s safe to say he was a cleaning fool by this point, Seungkwan was a bit afraid he was gonna bleach his hands off. It really had taken bleach to clean the biohazard that was the refrigerator. They got groceries finally, Seungkwan’s diet could resume (yeah right) and he could walk into the kitchen without worrying that the creature from the black lagoon would crawl out at him.

One problem still remained though, that thing (Seungkwan refused to call it by its name) was still lurking in the apartment. Apparently they’d checked it out of the whorehouse for a whole week. Speaking of, it was annoying Seungkwan right at that very moment.

“So what do you actually do? Please don’t tell me driving is your only job, I want to believe you have at least one skill,”

Seungkwan's eye twitched as Minghao’s voice drawled on. He was practicing self-control, he could handle it this time.

“Where’d they get you anyway? You look like you wouldn’t be caught dead in this business,” Minghao leaned closer to Seungkwan from his spot on the couch, Seungkwan sat stiffly on a stool next to the counter and tried to tune out the noise. There was a roach twitching in a puddle of bleach on the floor, he was imagining it was Minghao instead. He took another tiny unmarked candy from the bowl on the counter (he had no idea where they came from or what they were but he hadn’t dropped dead yet so he figured they were safe,) a fact that was not lost on Minghao.

“Are you sure you really need to be eating that? How about you eat some celery or something?” It was so obvious Minghao was just trying to get a rise out of Seungkwan. And he succeeded too, Seungkwan finally lost his cool. He turned his head very slowly, truthfully he was just trying to think of a good comeback.

“How about you eat something other than dick?” Don’t insult Seungkwan’s weight, it’s a sore spot. At least he managed to shut Minghao up for half a second.

“You do realize you don’t eat dick right? You just suck it,” Minghao said plainly. He didn’t even sound upset, just bored, “I really feel bad for whoever you’ve been with in the past, I’d be terrified if someone tried to eat my dick.”

If Seungkwan were thinking clearly he’d realize how ridiculous the conversation really was, but he was too busy feeling suddenly insecure, because he had yet to swipe his proverbial “V-card.” It wasn’t his fault he wasn’t a cheap whore unlike someone in the room, he needed to be loved and cherished and no man had shown that he was deserving of Seungkwan’s body yet. He could think of one person who may be worthy, but the jury was still out on whether or not he actually had a chance with Hansol. Thinking about Hansol and losing his virginity at the same time was a recipe for disaster so he went back to staring at the dying roach. But then Minghao had to pipe up again.

“You have had the chance to show off your obviously poor oral skills before right? You’re like 25 you can’t be a virgin,” Minghao said seriously.

“I’m 23, thank you very much,” He responded, he turned his nose upward quite snobbily, he thought he looked cool, in actuality he looked like he had a neck cramp.

“So you are a virgin, yikes,” and that was the end of that conversation. Seungkwan was considering going to lie in the bleach with the roach, which had finally stopped struggling. He was just waiting for the right person, there was nothing wrong with that. He hadn’t had time to be in a relationship yet, he had too many responsibilities.

Seungkwan’s internal monologue continued like this until he was broken out of his reverie by Hansol.

“Hey, are you ok? You’re awfully red,” he sounded genuinely concerned, which didn’t help the blush. Minghao snorted from the couch.

“Hey Hansol,” Minghao started, Seungkwan was already dreading whatever he would say, “Are you a virgin?”

Hansol raised his eyebrows at him, “I’m 23,”

“So’s your friend,” Minghao nodded at Seungkwan, who had turned a few shades darker.  
Seungkwan didn't care that hansol wasn't a virgin, what he cared about was the fact that he was obviously being taunted.

Hansol immediately tried to backtrack, bless his heart.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with that though, people are ready at different times,” Hansol rubbed Seungkwan’s back affectionately as he spoke.

“You sound like a bunch of high schoolers,” Chan’s voice chimed in. He was walking out of the hallway as he spoke. “Who honestly cares? I don’t pay you people to sit around and gossip like teenagers, we have stuff to do today,”

Seungkwan had never been so thankful for Chan and his blunt personality, although he was pretty sure the Chan he had become friends with years ago was much happier and friendlier.

The stuff they had to do thankfully didn’t include Minghao, he had to stay with Chan. They set off for one of the warehouses Chan owned, Seungkwan didn’t know why they were going there but he figured he’d find out eventually. Obviously the day would not work out in his favor because right after he pulled out of the garage someone rear ended him.

“This is my mom’s car! There’s a dent in it!” He and Hansol stood on the sidewalk next to the car.

“Yes, that’s definitely a dent,” Hansol confirmed.

“Oh my god, I’m gonna faint,” Seungkwan was fanning himself quite dramatically.

“Please don’t, Wonwoo will fix your car, he’s good at that.” Hansol tried to calm him down.

It didn’t really matter that it was his mom’s car. The doctor said she couldn’t drive anymore, so it was his, but it was the car they’d had since he was young. It had so many memories, and there was only a very small amount of time for him to make more. Surprisingly he didn’t cry over the car. He just listened to Hansol’s words about Wonwoo and got back into the drivers’ seat.

The rest of the ride was silent, Seungkwan was far away in his memories of driving to and from school and going to the park on the weekends with his mom, all of the places they’d gone had been in that car. He knew it wasn’t ruined, but it served to remind him that his mother’s time was running out quickly, he’d have to ask Chan for some time off soon to say goodbye.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Hansol said, he had a gentle smile on his face, which made Seungkwan feel a bit better.

“I’m just thinking about my mom,” he responded. He sighed as he turned into the warehouse parking lot. Hansol nodded as they got out of the car.

“My parents are dead,” Hansol stated plainly, as if he were talking about something mundane like the weather. He didn’t seem too bothered by the fact.

Seungkwan didn’t respond. All Hansol needed to do at the warehouse was pick up some mysterious boxes. Seungkwan could guess that they were full of illicit substances.

“Don’t get pulled over or we’re fucked.” Definitely illicit substances.

The drive back was a bit more lighthearted. They went back to listening to Hansol’s music, which Seungkwan was starting to enjoy. They joked and talked and had a generally good time, Seungkwan was careful not to get pulled over, that wouldn’t be a fun time. Once they made it back Hansol left the boxes and the dented car with Wonwoo. Wonwoo didn’t looked pleased at the fact that he had to fix the car, but he grudgingly set to work while Mingyu tried to help. Hansol and Seungkwan were leaving the garage to go for a walk as Wonwoo threw a wrench at Mingyu’s head. It missed sadly, Seungkwan wanted to see what would happen.

It was rapidly cooling off as the sun set, Seungkwan was getting kind of cold, his only jacket was still up in Hansol’s room though. They walked to a park and ran around like kids, Seungkwan hadn’t had this much fun in years, he hadn’t really had a friend in years, being able to act stupid with someone was quite refreshing. They lost their energy pretty fast, it had been a long time since either one of them had ran for fun. They ended up lying next to each other looking up at the sky. There were no stars due to the air pollution from the city, but the moon shone brightly and illuminated the clouds.

Seungkwan was starting to shiver a bit, the temperature had really dropped.

“Hey, do you wanna borrow my jacket?” Hansol asked as he sat up. He didn’t even wait for Seungkwan to respond, he just took it off and handed it to him. Seungkwan blushed, he was a sucker for traditional romance.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to get cold because I was too stupid to bring a jacket,” Seungkwan was only saying that out of common curtesy, he wanted that jacket. Lucky for him, Hansol shook his head and left it with Seungkwan. He put it on, they were about the same size so it fit nicely. It was warm and smelled nice, Seungkwan’s heart was racing, he’d imagined stuff like this when he was in high school. His prince charming would be sweet and kind and treat him like he was made of gold, all of which applied to Hansol. Seungkwan was almost positive he was completely falling for him.

They stayed at the park for a while, until Chan called Hansol and told him that they had an event to be at that night. The walk back was quite pleasant, he had Hansol’s jacket to ward off the cold, and the lights were really pretty. He hadn’t been able to admire the city at night yet, it was far more beautiful than he’d imagined it would be.

“You know, it’s been a little while since we met,” Hansol said suddenly, “but it feels like it’s been longer, I’m happy to have you as a friend.”

Seungkwan always got weirdly emotional when people said nice things to him, so he tried not to sound choked up when he responded.

“I’m happy too,” He heard Hansol laugh from beside them, and they finished their journey in a comfortable silence.

 

Chan was waiting for them when they got back, Minghao was beside him unfortunately, and Seungkwan’s good mood evaporated. He felt like being petty but tried to keep it in. They were waiting in the garage so Seungkwan couldn’t go and get his own jacket. What a shame. Wonwoo had magically fixed the car while they were gone, there was no dent or anything. Seungkwan was impressed, this was quality work.

“We’re going to a party,” Chan said as they got into the car. He gave Seungkwan an address and no further explanation.

“I’m guessing we’re not going to enjoy ourselves,” Hansol said lightly.

Chan shook his head and looked out the window, he sat in the back with Minghao, who couldn’t resist making comments about Seungkwan’s driving skills.

“When are you gonna turn?”

“When are you gonna go back to the brothel?” Seungkwan asked. Chan snorted. Hansol sighed.

The rest of the drive was awkwardly silent, but Seungkwan didn’t break it this time.

 

They arrived at the party soon enough, it was in a hotel downtown. The lobby was too fancy for Seungkwan’s tastes, but he did enjoy the little tanks full of lemon water, those were cool. This was the first party he’d been to since college, he was ready to let loose. Not really, he was pretty sure it would go to hell in a hand basket relatively soon.

Seungkwan was sitting on a couch minding his own business, eating some tiny sandwiches and people watching, when a man sat down next to him. After what happened at the bar he was extra wary of people randomly approaching him. Seungkwan had to admit though, the strange man was incredibly attractive.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around before, who are you here with?” He asked.

Seungkwan wasn’t sure he should answer, so he didn’t. He just sat there.

“I’m Jun, nice to meet you,” the stranger- Jun- held out a hand to shake. 

Seungkwan was still hesitant. He’d shake his hand and suddenly there’d be a gun to his head. That’s what always happens in the movies. He figured that he’d be ok, shaking hands was polite, so he did. And what do you know, boom, he was flipped around, put in a chokehold, and there was a gun to his head. At least he still had Hansol’s jacket on.

“Listen buddy, I’m trying to eat my sandwiches, whatever it is you want, I probably don’t have it,” Seungkwan wasn’t interested in getting his brains blown out, he wasn’t even scared, he was just hungry. As people realized what was going more guns came out and widespread panic began. Seungkwan was actually a bit happy Jun had him in a chokehold, he was protected from getting trampled.

Suddenly the arms that were holding him were gone, he turned around and Jun was on the ground. Minghao was standing on his back. He completely ignored Seungkwan and starting taunting Jun.

“Say uncle,” he commanded as He put a foot on his head. His face was completely impassive. 

Jun just smiled at him from the ground. Seungkwan took this as an opportunity to run, so he hightailed it away from them. He still had a sandwich in his hand so he shoved it into his mouth as he ran out the door, right into Hansol’s chest.

“Thank goodness you’re all right,” Hansol pulled him to his chest quickly, Seungkwan didn’t have time to hug back because Hansol started pulling him towards the parking lot.

“Chan and Minghao will get back on their own,” Hansol said as they got into the car.

Seungkwan didn’t waste any time. He pulled out of the parking lot as fast as he could and started toward the apartment. While he was driving he went over what happened in his head. He arrived, ate some food, almost got shot, then left. The severity of what could've happened still hadn't hit him yet. 

“Did you have fun?” Seungkwan asked.

“I thought you were actually dead, so no,” Hansol responded. Seungkwan was touched.

The drive to the apartment seemed much faster than he remembered. He told Hansol the story of what happened on the way.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, I didn’t mean to leave you on your own,” Hansol said earnestly, “I’ll make it up to you,”

Seungkwan just really wanted to go to bed. It had been another long, eventful day. When they arrived he made a beeline for Hansol’s bedroom and went to plop himself on the couch but Hansol stopped him.

“I said I’d make it up to you, so you can sleep in my bed and I’ll sleep on the couch,” He said as he moved his pillow to the couch and moved Seungkwan’s stuff to the bed. This was more than Seungkwan could handle at the moment so he started sputtering like a broken sprinkler.

“I don’t want to kick you out of your bed,” Seungkwan was fine on the couch, it was comfortable. And knowing him, if he slept on Hansol’s bed he’d probably end up having an awkward wet dream and that wouldn’t be a pleasant situation for anyone.

“It’s no problem, I don’t mind, unless you want us to sleep together, because you’re not sleeping on the couch,” Hansol was joking about sleeping together, Seungkwan could tell, but it still made him a little… hot. 

“Whatever’s better for you,” he said weakly.

“I thought you meant to banish me to the couch anyway,” Hansol said as he began to get ready for bed. Seungkwan was still standing half dazed in the middle of the room.

“I was joking,” he said softly.

Hansol looked at him curiously.

“Hey, what’s the matter? Did I make you uncomfortable?” he asked. Seungkwan was really happy that Hansol cared so much about his feelings but he was a little overwhelmed.

Seungkwan just shook his head.

“I’m not trying to try anything weird with you, I promise,” Hansol said. Seungkwan kinda wished he would ‘try something weird’ with him, then Minghao couldn’t make fun of him and he’d be more of a normal 23 year old man, but they’d only known each other for a short amount of time and Seungkwan wasn’t cheap, so that would have to wait.

“It’s not that, I’m just tired,” he said. It was the truth, he was exhausted. The two of them finished getting ready for bed quietly, Seungkwan hung Hansol’s jacket up in the closet and climbed into his bed. It smelled like his jacket but stronger, it was very comfortable, much better than the couch. Seungkwan was looking forward to sleeping actually, he figured it would be the best night’s sleep he’d gotten in a while. He drifted off before Hansol said goodnight and while the lights were on, surrounded by warmth and comfort.


	6. Chapter 6

When Seungkwan awoke the next morning he felt better than he had in weeks. It had been a long time since he’d slept in a comfortable bed. It took him a few seconds to remember that he was in Hansol’s bed, and when he did he sat up to check on Hansol on the couch. He was sleeping peacefully, the soft glow from the rising sun made him look practically angelic. In the few weeks it had been since they’d met, Seungkwan had fallen hard and he was a bit worried. He didn’t want to genuinely fall in love with Hansol, there was too much to lose. Seungkwan wasn’t good at hiding his feelings, and if Hansol found out he may not want to be his friend anymore, and Seungkwan was too lonely to lose his only real friend.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Hansol stirring on the couch. He sat up slowly, stretching as he did so. Seungkwan tried not to stare, but failed miserably; he was too tired to really be in control of his actions.

“How did you sleep last night?” he asked, Seungkwan’s heart always sped up at Hansol’s early morning voice, and today was absolutely no exception.

“Pretty well, how about you?” he managed to respond, Hansol only nodded in response and continued stretching. The two of them went about their morning business, nothing eventful happened until Seungkwan came out of the bathroom after taking a shower. He walked out right when Hansol had taken off his pajama shirt, and he just about had a heart attack. It’s not like Hansol was insanely ripped or anything, he had a pretty average body, but Seungkwan was still thrown completely off guard by how attracted he was to him; so he did the only thing he could think of at that point, scream and run back into the bathroom. It was a girly scream too, he was almost ashamed.

“Are you ok?” Hansol was knocking at the door. Seungkwan’s brain still wasn’t functioning so he continued to behave like an idiot.

“I need an inhaler,” he choked out, internally cursing his bad sense of humor as he leaned against the door.

“An inhaler? Do you have asthma?” Hansol sounded confused, Seungkwan couldn’t blame him. 

“No, it was a joke,” not a funny one obviously. Seungkwan took a second to gather his wits and tried to suavely leave the bathroom, but he tripped over his foot as he was opening the door and literally fell at Hansol’s feet.

Hansol gasped and quickly bent down beside him. Seungkwan assessed himself for damage, and after finding none, pushed Hansol away so he could stand.

“I’m good,” he said, surprisingly confidently. He flashed Hansol a thumbs up and left him to finish changing. Hansol stood next to the bathroom door watching his retreating figure, still completely confused.

“Why can’t I have one normal interaction?” Seungkwan muttered to himself as he opened the fridge door. “Every single day I make a fool out of myself,” He pushed aside some takeout boxes to find the yogurt he’d bought a few days prior. It was disgusting, but the only alternative was some stale cereal and Seungkwan would rather deal with bad taste and a healthy stomach. Plus, the yogurt had less than 100 calories, with a new and stylish look. Seungkwan was pondering whether or not he should go for a new and stylish look when he was rudely interrupted by his favorite street walker.

“I saved your ass last night,” Minghao said plainly, as if he were remarking on the weather and not Seungkwan’s life. But Seungkwan, being himself, had to be snarky and not thankful.

“Big deal, I’ve been saving my ass for 23 years,” he said as he shoveled another spoonful of yogurt into his mouth.

“I don’t think forced celibacy counts as saving, but whatever you say,” Minghao was checking out his nails, looking completely unbothered. Seeing him reminded Seungkwan of a question he’d been meaning to ask.

“That guy who tried to kill me, it seemed like you knew him,” he said. Minghao looked over at him, and Seungkwan saw a quick flicker of an unreadable emotion on his face before it quickly reverted to indifference.

“Yeah, I know him,” he stated, but Seungkwan wasn’t about to let it go. This might be the only high ground he’d get, so he had to take advantage.

“Who is he? How do you know him? Why did he try to kill me?” Seungkwan started rattling off questions until Minghao cut him off.

“His name is Junhui, he’s a prostitute like me, he’s working for our rivals, does that answer your questions?” Minghao sounded disgruntled, Seungkwan filed that information for later use.

“One more,” Minghao shot him an annoyed look so Seungkwan lowered his voice, “Why did you save me? You could have let him kill me and no one would know,”

Minghao’s face immediately softened, he looked almost regretful, but Seungkwan could sense that it was about something else entirely.

“We’re on the same side, I have to look out for you,” he said indifferently. He turned his nose away from Seungkwan with an air of finality, but Seungkwan wasn’t going down without a fight.

“Tell me the truth,” he said gently. Minghao slowly looked over at him. Seungkwan patted the stool next to him and waited for Minghao to sit. He hesitantly walked over and sat, making sure to sit as far away from Seungkwan as possible. Seungkwan braced himself for whatever Minghao had to lay on him. 

"He's done a lot of bad things in his life," Minghao stated plainly. 

"Then what's one more? There has to be a deeper reason," Seungkwan prodded gently. 

Minghao sighed and refused to meet Seungkwan's eyes. They say in silence until Minghao finally started again. 

"I wouldn't be able to handle watching him kill someone in front of me," he paused and added a quietly, "especially someone I know."

Seungkwan had figured Minghao hadn't done it out of the kindness of his heart, but he was intrigued at the fact that Minghao had done it both out of concern for Junhui and himself. 

“How did you meet?” Seungkwan was interested in the relationship between the two, they seemed close but at odds.

Minghao closed his eyes and brought Seungkwan with him through a haze of memories, spanning many, many years.

 

It had all started when Minghao was 15 years old. He lived in a poorer area of town, rife with crime and desperation. He walked everywhere, his family had no car and didn’t miss him much when he was gone anyway. He tried to stay away from the wrong crowd, but it found him regardless.

He was walking home from the park where he spent most of his days, the earliest chill of autumn was beginning to settle, and he cursed himself for not bringing a jacket. He was so thin that even the slightest wind froze him to the bone, so his teeth were chattering as he walked along the dimly lit road, the neon signs from sex shops and flickering street lights keeping him company. He didn’t think much about it when he heard footsteps behind him, many people in the area had to walk places, and he knew how to defend himself fairly well. But he’d severely misjudged the situation, and he paid the price.

He didn’t know what happened on the road that night, but he woke up in a room later, on a hard bed with a pounding headache. His clothes were torn and dirty, and his whole body was sore. He laid there for a few minutes until he noticed a person sitting near the foot of the bed. It was a boy, only a bit older than Minghao himself. His hair was swept out of his face into a bun at the top of his head, so Minghao figured it was fairly long, his facial features were well defined for a teenager, but he was slouching, he looked broken and tired. He was just sitting there, fiddling with the strings at the end of the fraying blanket, until he noticed that Minghao was awake.

His expression immediately changed, a fake smile filled with pity, quite fitting for what the next few years would hold.

“You’re awake, how are you feeling?” he asked. Minghao just laid there, the stranger seemed to accept this as an answer and nodded gracefully.

“I’m Junhui, but you can call me Jun,” he smiled at him, but his lip trembled, Minghao just wanted to go back to sleep, maybe when he woke up things would be back to normal. But he learned fairly quickly that there was no escape, only gradual freedom.

 

A few days passed since Minghao was brought to the place. He learned that it was a brothel somewhere in a seedy back alley where only people who had nothing to live for went. The owner planned for him to start seeing customers a week after his arrival, he wasn’t sure if he should be scared or not, he was having trouble feeling any emotion at all. Jun looked after him as best he could, but he spent most nights locked away with the strange men that came to call.

The building itself was dirty and grimy, Minghao had never seen the outside, but he figured it couldn’t be much better. The hallways were dark and drafty, each door was illuminated slightly to see the numbers on them. The carpet was old and stained, and one had to be careful not to catch their foot on a stray nail. The whole place stunk of body odor and cheap perfume. Minghao wasn’t supposed to roam the hallways during business hours, so he’d never been out of his room at night, and he figured that was for the best, the sounds of the activities taking place were enough to make him want to hole himself up forever.

 

The night before he was slated to make his grand debut into the business he was lying awake, it was very early in the morning, a few hours from dawn, when his door slowly creaked open.

“Minghao, are you awake?” Jun whispered.

“Yeah,” he responded.

“Are you afraid?”

Minghao thought for a second, he wasn’t afraid per se, just apprehensive. He wasn’t exactly sure how Jun interpreted his silence, but a few seconds later he climbed into the small bed with Minghao.

That night was one of the most memorable nights of his life, it was burned into his mind backwards and forwards. Jun had come to give him what he himself had never had. He had come to prepare him for what would happen the next night, because the patrons were never gentle, they didn’t care if the person with them was a virgin, or even if they were a child. He cried a lot that night, it was so painful, and he bled, but at least he had Jun to hold onto him. He was fairly certain Jun cried with him at some points, but he was thankful. He was thankful that his first time was with Jun, who tried his hardest to be gentle and comforting, instead of letting him suffer the first time like he’d had to.

When they eventually finished they laid together on Minghao’s bed. The sun was beginning to rise, and they’d both be woken up to prepare themselves and their rooms for the night’s activities soon. They didn’t speak for the rest of the time they were together, but Minghao was afraid now. He was afraid that he’d lose himself in the haze that settled over the building at night, in the way the old sweaty men walked into the brothel and leered at the broken spirits standing at the front of the room. The time to rise came for too quickly, and Jun was ushered out of his room to prepare his own. The day passed in a blur, he was bathed and dressed and pushed out into the main room in what felt like seconds. It had been almost twelve hours since he’d last seen Jun, but it felt like an eternity. He was out on the floor with a few others from the brothel, but he didn’t know them personally.

Jun eventually made it out onto the floor with him, but Minghao almost didn’t recognize him. He had his hair down, it hung just past his shoulders, and he had some pretty heavy eye makeup on. Minghao had been sent out plainly, there would no problem finding a patron for him because for all intents and purposes, he was a virgin. Jun eventually caught his eye and walked over to him.

“You’ll be ok, I promise,”

Minghao was sure Jun was in no place to be making that kind of promise, but he nodded anyway and let Jun put his arm around his shoulder. The doors opened at 9, and it was 8:45, Minghao could already hear people milling around outside the double doors at the other end of the room.

“I’ll come to your room after I’m done for the night,” Jun told him as the doors opened and Minghao nodded, steeling himself for the first night of the rest of his life.

They were right, there was absolutely no trouble finding someone to buy him, he was handed off to a middle aged overweight man with rotting teeth a mere five minutes after the beginning of the night. He tried to catch Jun’s eye before he took the man to his room, but he was busy talking to a man who looked like he was on every drug on earth. He was sitting at a table with him, hands curled under his chin delicately, hair framing his face, Minghao had never realized how beautiful Jun really was, but he lost sight of him quickly. The last thing he saw that night before he took his first customer was the large number 8 on his door, marking him as the 8th prostitute in the building. He’d been reduced to nothing more than a number tied to a body.

 

Minghao didn’t like dwelling on what had happened that night, in fact, it was mostly blacked out of his memory. But some things couldn’t be forgotten, like the man’s breath on his face and the horrible words he said. After he left Minghao just laid there, since it was his first day he only had to have one customer, whereas the others had to take multiple.

He drifted in and out of consciousness until Jun came into his room, he looked awful, his makeup had streaked down his face and his hair was a mess. He shook Minghao’s shoulder very gently.

“Are you hurt too badly?” he whispered.

Minghao shook his head, and sat up. Sharp pains shot through his body but he ignored it, he figured he’d get used to it eventually. Jun lead him to showers at the end of the hallway, they were large and brightly lit, a direct contrast to the cramped dim spaces throughout the rest of the building.

They washed off together, and they continued this tradition for the many years to come, until they both changed into horrible perverse versions of their former selves. Although now he was a far cry from the gentle boy with the long hair and the pretty face, Minghao never gave up on the first person who truly cared about him.

 

When Minghao’s story finally ended both he and Seungkwan were crying. They had moved closer to one another and were leaning against each other.

“I’m sorry I’ve treated you so badly,” Seungkwan whispered, he felt so guilty, he had completely forgotten that Minghao may have struggles of his own.

“Don’t be, I’d rather have you treat me badly than walk on eggshells around me,” Minghao smiled at him, and Seungkwan felt like they’d come to an understanding.

Seungkwan knew what he had to do at that point. He knew if he wanted Minghao to be less bitter and miserable he had to get his friend back. So he bid Minghao farewell and set off to Chan’s office.

He barged in without knocking and startled Chan, who jumped about a mile of his seat and greatly resembled a deer in headlights as Seungkwan started rattling off to him.

“Slow down! I can’t understand you,” Chan looked highly alarmed.

“We need to get him back,” Seungkwan blubbered incoherently.

“Get who back? Who’s missing?” Chan asked, “Why are you crying? Is someone hurt?”

“We need to get Jun back for Minghao, they’re best friends,” Seungkwan sobbed.

Chan looked at him incredulously, “Didn’t he try to shoot you last night?”

“He’s misguided!” Seungkwan exclaimed, irritated that Chan didn’t see the severity of the situation. Chan sighed and rubbed his temples.

“So what you’re saying is, you want go out and locate the guy who literally tried to kill you yesterday, and bring him here to make Minghao feel better,” Chan said.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” Seungkwan replied.

Chan considered it for a second, “Ok, the three of you go, be home by tomorrow,” and he turned his attention away from Seungkwan.

Seungkwan wasted no time, he ran out into the kitchen where a very confused Hansol stood next to a crying Minghao.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” he asked.

Minghao nodded, “I just miss him,” he whispered.

“Who’s him?” Hansol asked loudly, as if he’d asked that question several times before.

Seungkwan ignored Hansol in favor of going straight to Minghao.

“Do you know where he is?” he asked. Hansol looked even more confused now, he looked back and forth between Minghao and Seungkwan like he was desperately trying to understand what was going on.

Minghao nodded.

“Well Chan said we could go and get him and bring him back here if you want,”

Minghao’s face lit up and he grabbed Seungkwan’s hands tightly.

“Really?” he looked so hopeful, Seungkwan could barely believe this was the same person who’d criticized his driving and made fun of him only a few days before. Seungkwan nodded seriously.

The three of them set out shortly after, Hansol still had no idea what was going on. The drive passed quickly, but Minghao managed to compose himself.

“Just so you know, he’s nothing like the person I described anymore. Just like I’m completely different. The world changed him too much,” he sounded sad. The heavy look was back in his eyes.

“He’s still there, just like you are, you just need each other back,” Seungkwan said seriously. He honestly believed that they would be better together.

“What the hell is going on?” Hansol sounded frazzled.

“You’ll see,” was the only explanation Seungkwan offered.

 

They arrived at an overpass with several tacky sex shops underneath it. Seungkwan parked the car on the side of the road and he and Hansol followed Minghao to a building whose sign read China Doll with several Chinese characters underneath it. They went inside, there were several girls lounging around stripper poles on the side of the room, they started to get up, but they seemed to recognize Minghao and sat back down. Minghao walked straight up to the counter and started ranting at the man standing there in what Seungkwan assumed was Mandarin. Their conversation apparently wasn’t going well, because Minghao pulled a gun out of his jacket and aimed it at the man. Hansol immediately jumped like he’d been shocked but calmed down when the man pulled out a key and handed it to Minghao, grumbling as he did so.

They walked down the hall in silence, to a door with a large number 4 on it. Minghao unlocked the door unceremoniously. Inside, a man was lounging on the bed, he immediately tensed when the door opened, but like the girls, he relaxed when he saw Minghao.

“Minghao, I knew you missed me too much to stay away,” he said, almost flirtatiously, Seungkwan understood what Minghao meant when he said the Jun had changed, There was no gentle edge to his expression, his eyes were hard and icy, his hair was short now, he was a far cry from the person Minghao had described.

“Come home with me Junhui, leave this place,” Minghao said, ignoring Jun’s words.

“What if I don’t want to do that?” he asked, the cadence in his voice was still there, edged with annoyance.

“I know you do, you’ve been here since you were a kid,” Minghao walked closer to the bed, “Please Junnie, do it for me,” Minghao fluttered his eyelashes at him.

Jun’s eyes flashed, “Don’t call me that,”

Minghao sighed in annoyance, “Fine, Junhui, come with me, we’re better together anyway,”

Jun sat in silence for a few seconds, sizing up Minghao. He nodded to himself and laid back down on his bed.

“Fine, I’ll do it, on one condition,” Seungkwan didn’t like the sound of that, conditions were never good. Minghao nodded for Jun to continue.

“Your voice is annoying me, if you put your mouth to better use I might forgive you,” he shot Minghao an absolutely lecherous expression. Seungkwan gasped at Jun’s words, he was actually starting to get a bit angry, jaded prostitute or not, he was a dick. He had no right to treat Minghao this way, Seungkwan was about to voice his opinion, but before he could Minghao shrugged his shoulders and crossed to the other side of the room. He had just dropped to his knees when Seungkwan felt himself being pulled out of the room.

Hansol closed the door behind them to leave Jun and Minghao to their business. Seungkwan was silently seething while Hansol rubbed his face.

“That was certainly something,” he mumbled, Seungkwan figured he still had no idea what was going on so he took pity on him and explained what Minghao had told him. After he was finished Hansol whistled lowly.

"So you're telling me, the guy you've hated since you met him told you his life story, so you decided to charge out and find the dude who literally held a gun to your head just to make the guy you hate happy," Hansol stated, eyebrows raised in question. 

"I don't hold grudges, no harm no foul," Seungkwan said loftily. It really was true, Seungkwan wasn't the type to stay bitter for a long time, and he liked helping people, "but now I'm a bit upset about the way he's treating Minghao, he doesn't deserve that."

“It's fucked up,” Hansol said, Seungkwan nodded in agreement.

“But,” Hansol started, Seungkwan looked at him questioningly, “We can’t judge for the way he’s acting, we don’t know what happened between them or what he’s been through. We’ve only heard a small part of the story,” Hansol stated.

“It doesn’t matter! He shouldn’t treat-” Seungkwan’s refutation was cut off by the door opening. Jun exited first, carrying a small bag and a smirk; Minghao came after, his lips were slightly swollen but he looked otherwise composed. The two of them set off down the hallway without speaking, leaving Seungkwan and Hansol to follow. Seungkwan was just about to ask how they planned on actually getting Jun out of there when his question was answered.

They literally walked out the door. The man at the counter didn’t ask questions, nobody cared. They didn’t even return the key. It was almost as if they didn’t own him, like he kept himself in there by his own choice. Seungkwan could sense the impending awkward drive and began mentally preparing himself for it.

Once they were in the car they set off to go back home. The radio was on, there was casual conversation happening in the car, it wasn’t as bad as Seungkwan thought it would be. It was fine until they hit some rough traffic.

“Stop riding my ass!” Seungkwan practically shouted at the car behind him.

“I don’t know, you seem like the type who likes having their ass ridden,” Jun retorted from the backseat. Both Seungkwan and Hansol were surprised at this, and they looked at each other with identical looks of shock.

“He wouldn’t know,” Minghao added. Seungkwan was happy they were at least talking to each other, but he would prefer that they talk about something other than his unexplored sexual preferences.

Jun eyebrows raised at Minghao’s words, “Really? I could change that,” he wiggled his eyebrows at Seungkwan comically, laughing a bit at himself. Seungkwan and Minghao laughed as well, but there was someone else who wasn’t finding the conversation entertaining.

“No, you can’t,” Hansol said, looking strangely agitated.

Jun raised his eyebrows once again, but this time he was serious.

“Oh, are you two a thing? I didn’t mean to come onto your man or whatever,” he waved his hand dismissively.

Hansol blushed and sputtered at Jun’s words, “That’s not what I meant,” he said, burying his face in his hands, “I get protective over my friends,”

“Friends, sure,” Jun winked at him. Seungkwan just sat rigid in his seat, both embarrassed and flattered that someone thought he could be with Hansol. He was also just a bit happy that Hansol had had such a negative reaction to Jun’s proposition but he tried not to dwell on it too much.

Seungkwan figured he could figure out how to fix Jun and Minghao’s relationship later, just like he could figure out his relationship with Hansol later. Everything could be done later, right now he was content to live in this moment, where he was happy and content.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't like this chapter very much, but we learn more about the past. Pleas leave a comment!

Seungkwan was a bit apprehensive about the recent developments. He figured Jun would get in some kind of trouble for leaving, if it was that easy to get out he and Minghao would have left as children rather than suffer for years. He didn’t know how to ask about it though, and he also didn’t know how to ask about the incident the night before. He honestly couldn’t believe it had been less than 24 hours since Jun was holding a gun to his head, but life was pretty unbelievable lately.

“So… How’s life everyone?” Seungkwan asked as cheerfully as he could. He wanted to facilitate a good atmosphere.

"Pretty good,” Hansol responded. Seungkwan was hoping for more elaboration but he would make do with what he had.

“Nice, nice, does anybody else have anything to share?” Seungkwan asked.

“What, is this therapy or some shit? I don’t think you have a license, and frankly, I don’t think you can handle my emotional baggage,” Jun said from the backseat. All Seungkwan wanted was something like ‘Life is better now that I’m reunited with my lost love.’ But instead he got sass and disappointment.

“Don’t be a bitch, God he’s just trying to start a conversation,” Minghao’s nasal whiny voice was back, Seungkwan was not pleased with the turn of events.

“I’m not the bitchy one, that’s you, the pot shouldn’t call the kettle black,”

“Ugh, why did I even want to see you again, you’re just as bad as I remember,” Minghao said, his voice lowered toward the end of his statement, and he was facing away from Jun as he spoke.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jun sounded defensive and almost a bit hurt. Seungkwan wasn’t enjoying this, he was just trying to drive them home. Hansol didn’t seem to be listening, he was intensely bopping his head and mouthing along with the radio. Seungkwan thought it was kind of (really) cute.

“I thought you would have grown up or something, it’s like you’re aging backwards,”

“That’s enough,” Seungkwan interrupted. He was done listening to this in the car, It took too much of his concentration.

The two sat in silence in the back, Hansol still wasn’t paying attention. The rest of the drive passed in a similar fashion. Seungkwan was beginning to miss the car rides from a few weeks ago, when he and Hansol were actually able to talk to each other. The silence gave him time to reflect on his recent actions, and honestly he had no idea why he had done half the things he had. He told a person with a gun to his head to back off instead of being terrified, he randomly decided to go pick up a prostitute because the guy who had been tormenting him for days actually has emotions, and not to mention, he started working for a gang (he was a bit hesitant to say he joined it because he was pretty sure there was protocol for that.) Seungkwan wouldn’t have done any of these things a month ago, but that goes to show life can change in the blink of an eye.

 

When they arrived at the building (headquarters? Seungkwan wasn’t sure,) they stopped for their obligatory chat with Wonwoo and Mingyu. They hadn’t been out lately, so neither had met Minghao, let alone Jun.

Mingyu was excited to say the least.

“Hi! I’m Mingyu, what are your names?” he looked so genuinely happy that it sent a pang through Seungkwan’s heart. He didn’t want to imagine how lonely Mingyu must have been if just seeing new people made him react like this.

To his surprise, Jun smiled at him almost graciously, “I’m Junhui, but most people call me Jun. Nice to meet you,” he said softly. Minghao shot him a glance, he seemed concerned and a bit confused. 

“Nice to meet you too! If you come down here to visit we can be friends!” Mingyu was honestly so sweet, Seungkwan couldn’t believe someone would want to treat him badly.

“Of course I’ll visit you,” he said with a kind smile. 

“This is Wonwoo! He’s actually really nice I promise he just doesn’t talk. He’s my best friend even if I annoy him,” Mingyu rattled off, gesturing at Wonwoo.

“You don’t annoy me,” he said plainly.

“Nice to meet you, Wonwoo,” Jun said. Wonwoo eyed him suspiciously. He wasn’t too good with strangers that weren’t obviously harmless like Seungkwan.

“I’m Minghao, in case anyone was wondering,” he sounded mildly annoyed at being left out of the conversation.

“Nice to meet you! You’re super adorable!” Mingyu smiled brightly. Minghao blushed a bit and mumbled his thanks.

“That’s enough talking for now,” Wonwoo started pulling on Mingyu’s arm, directing them toward the workshop, “I’m sure they have important business to take care of,” Mingyu easily followed Wonwoo, waving at them as he walked away.

The four of them made their way toward the elevator. Minghao was still a bit red.

“So he obviously wasn’t keen on the big guy calling Minghao cute huh?” Jun said as they got on the elevator.

“I don’t know, Wonwoo’s kinda weird, it could’ve meant anything,” Hansol replied. Seungkwan shook his head at his obliviousness. Jun shared his sentiment.

“No wonder you and baby face haven’t shacked up yet,” Jun said with mild disdain, “That’s no shade at you pumpkin head,”

“Seungkwan, his name is Seungkwan,” Hansol wasn’t a fan of Junhui it seemed.

“Point proven,” he muttered. Seungkwan wasn’t exactly sure what Junhui’s point was, but he was sure that he was blushing like a schoolgirl because Hansol defended him.

The elevator dinged and let them off. Chan was waiting right outside the door, pacing. His face lit up when they emerged and immediately began herding them to his office.

“We need all hands on deck so our friends from the garage will be up here shortly,” he said quickly. He was bouncing on his heels and looked half crazed. Seungkwan was a bit worried, but figured something big was about to happen.

“Fancy seeing you again,” he greeted when Mingyu and Wonwoo made their way inside. It was cramped with seven people in the room, especially because six of them were crammed in one half. Seungkwan took one of the chairs, everyone else could stand for all he cared.

When they all settled in Chan turned to them. There was a mix of emotions in his eyes, excitement, apprehension, and a bit of anger it seemed.

“The time has come,” he said cryptically, “the moment I’ve been planning for years,”

The group sat quietly, all confused except Hansol, who seemed to know at least a bit of what Chan was saying.

“You,” he pointed to Jun, “are the key,”

Everyone turned their attention to Jun, who looked as clueless as Seungkwan felt.

“A while back I received an anonymous email containing some sensitive information. Information that was relevant to my cause. I didn’t know if could trust it, but since you worked for them you should know. Tell me, is there supposed to be a regularly scheduled emergency alarm system test at the showcase building a month from now?”

That was quite possibly the most bizarre question Seungkwan had ever heard. Both Jun and Mingyu had a reaction to his words. Jun jumped in surprise, Mingyu jumped in fear.

“Yes, there should be,” Jun said, looking a bit stunned.

“Mingyu, when you were there did they let you out to participate in the drill?” Chan asked, leaning over the desk.

Mingyu looked down at the floor and shook him head. He looked small like that, and Seungkwan’s heart squeezed again. Wonwoo put his hand on Mingyu’s back and patted him a bit, which seemed to raise Mingyu’s spirits, he looked at Chan and responded.

“No, they locked the wing that I was in the whole time, I got to listen to the alarms go on forever,” he said.

Chan nodded like he knew everything already and just needed confirmation, which, being that it was Chan, was probably true.

“Did you know anyone who was there, anyone who worked there or was kept there that I wouldn’t know about?” he asked.

Mingyu concentrated for a second, “Well, the person who took care of me was Seokmin, he brought me food and let me go outside, he wasn’t supposed to let me go outside though so that’s a secret,” he said earnestly, as if it really were a big concern that his old caretaker wouldn’t get in trouble.

“This person that you referred to, Seokmin, he’s quite the bleeding heart, isn’t he?” Chan asked.

“Oh yes, he would let people outside and give them extra food all the time, he would always tell me that I would get out of there and go back to my family,” Mingyu looked like he was miles away, lost somewhere in his own memories.

“Did he go by any other names that you know of?” This question was aimed at Jun.

Jun furrowed his eyebrows, “Um, not that I know of, but he used the same little username for everything, that might count,” he said, looking confused. Chan nodded for him to continue, “I think it was something like Dokyeom or something, I don’t remember,”

Chan’s eyes lit up dangerously.

 

They broke for dinner after that. Chan immediately went to his computer and started furiously typing. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning, apparently learning Mingyu’s old friend’s alias was the key to the code.

“What was that about?” Seungkwan asked Hansol as they rummaged through the fridge together.

“Beats me,” Hansol pulled out on old pizza box, checked it for mold, deemed it safe, and started eating. Seungkwan scrunched his nose in disgust but ate the pizza with him. They went to join the others in the living room, where Jun sat on the couch with a bag of fat free, lightly salted chips that hadn’t been opened because they were fat free and lightly salted. Minghao occasionally took a chip, he was sitting on the floor beside the couch. Mingyu and Wonwoo were sitting at the counter facing the TV, where a generic boring sitcom was playing. Seungkwan could feel the tension in the air, he knew something would happen, but for once, he wouldn’t start it.

Surprisingly, it was Wonwoo who made the first move, “If we’re going to have an emotional heart to heart can we just get it over with?” he seemed agitated.

“Is that permission because I like to overshare,” Mingyu asked seriously. Wonwoo nodded, and the rest of the room sat back to listen to his story. Hansol leaned against the wall and Seungkwan hopped on the counter before they were taken back to a different time.

 

It had been a dreary day, Mingyu was on his way home from the store, he’d only bought some snacks and a bottle of soda, and he was starting to regret making the trip. It was pouring rain and he’d forgotten his umbrella, so he made the trek completely soaked. He was lost in thought as he walked, he thought about how nice it would be to change when he got home, and how nice it would be to take a nap when he got home, and other things of that nature.  
He was only about five minutes from his house when a car pulled up beside him. The driver was a man about his age, and he offered him a ride because of the rain. Mingyu thought nothing of it, he was a big guy so he wasn’t used to evaluating the safety of certain situations. Needless to say, he accepted, and he had no idea what happened after that. He got in the car and that was the end.  
He woke up some time later, tied to a bed with multiple wires and tubes sticking out of him. He was incredibly groggy and confused, he laid there until someone came to check on him. The person who eventually came was a serious looking man, or at least, he looked serious until he noticed Mingyu was awake. He flashed Mingyu the brightest smile he’d ever seen, and it gave Mingyu just the tiniest glimmer of hope.

 

Time passed strangely in that room, he could never tell how long it had been in relation to anything. He never knew if it was night or day. Sometimes it felt like time passed so fast he was overwhelmed, or so slow he felt like crying. They did experiments on him, he didn’t know what they for, and he didn’t feel any different. The first time he noticed a difference was when he stubbed his toe on the corner of the bed. It bled for a few seconds and immediately healed. He was fascinated by his discovery, and took to hurting himself just to watch it heal again. He hardly felt pain, so he eventually started breaking his fingers out of boredom and then setting them in awkward positions, just to break them again and put them back into place.

The only saving grace was the same man that had come to him when he woke up. His name was Seokmin, and he was one of the kindest people Mingyu had ever met. He would sit and talk with him for hours about nothing, but Seokmin would still listen. He tried to stop him from hurting himself by giving him a notebook to write down his feelings in. Mingyu was happy that Seokmin cared so much, but he politely explained that he did it out of boredom, not depression. Nonetheless, he tried drawing to get rid of the empty feeling, and it worked for a while. One of his favorite days from when he was there was when Seokmin taped some of his drawings to the empty walls.

It took a while for the loneliness and sadness to set in. He was a social person by nature, he wanted more people to talk to. He would’ve accepted the people experimenting on him, but they always knocked him out. He tried to ask Seokmin what they were doing to him, but he didn’t know. After a few years, Mingyu had learned a decent amount about the place. He knew there were other prisoners like him, but he was the only science project. There was one person especially that he knew about. Mingyu didn’t know his name, because it was absolutely forbidden and that was the one rule Seokmin wasn’t willing to break, but he knew Seokmin was in love with him. It was quite cute to be honest. Mingyu found himself wishing that he could meet this mysterious entity.

Things started to get particularly hazy around this point, he didn’t remember anything until he woke up on the floor of the parking garage, Wonwoo leaning over him carefully, trying to discern whether he was alive or not. None of them had any idea how he got there, but he was so happy, he met three new people that day, his best friend Wonwoo, and his two other good friends Seungkwan and Hansol. He learned about cars and happiness that day, and he took a walk in the park, and he ate real food, and the future finally looked bright.

 

By the time Mingyu finished Seungkwan was sobbing in earnest, Jun and Minghao had tears in their eyes. Wonwoo and Hansol weren’t crying, but their eyes reflected the general feeling of the room. Seungkwan had no idea that first day he was there was the day Mingyu had quite literally been freed from hell. Wonwoo pulled Mingyu into his arms, they were both shaking slightly, and Seungkwan had to avert his eyes because the scene was too personal.

There was a shaky sigh from the couch, Jun seemed to be steeling himself. Seungkwan braced for impact once again, because he felt like this story would be just as heavy. Once everyone had turned their attention to him, Jun began his recall of his story.

 

He’d been an orphan for as long as he could remember, he lived behind a kitchen somewhere, he honestly didn’t know what the place was. He was thirteen years old, and he scrubbed dishes for his place. He worked with a kind old woman who took care of him like he was her own. She made food and cleaned the building. Jun accompanied her sometimes, there was a big main room with tables and two long hallways filled with bedrooms. He never saw any people in the building, but he knew they were there, he could hear them at night, they were noisy people, it was a bit hard to sleep.

He was eventually upgraded to washing tables instead of dishes, and it was because of this that he met his destiny.

It had started out like any other night, he went to clean the tables, but he left earlier than usual, he was very tired so he figured the faster he got his job done the faster he could go to bed. When he got to the main room there was still people, it was always empty when he cleaned, but they weren’t at the tables so he figured it would be ok. He set to work on the first row of tables, he scrubbed off the cigarette ashes and grime, it was at this moment he heard the words that still played in his dreams like a mantra.

“How much for the kid?” it was a man’s voice. He continued with his tables cautiously, listening to the conversation. The owner of the building spoke next.

“He’s not for sale, but there are plenty of others who would happily take you,”

Jun bent over to pick up the fallen rag he’d been using.

“But he’s got such a nice ass,” it was the man again, Jun had deduced that they were definitely talking about him, but he just wanted to go to bed, so he hurried with his scrubbing.

The owner called him over to them, so he walked to them with his head down.

“How old are you?” the owner asked.

“Thirteen,” he whispered, the man who’d asked for him was eyeing him like a piece of meat.

“I’ll offer you $13,000” he said, the owners eyes bugged out of his head at the amount, for that much he could fix so many problems with the power and the furniture, all for a thirteen year old boy’s virginity. The decision was easily made, Jun was hauled off to one of the back bedrooms, bucket and rag forgotten on the half clean table. The last thing he saw that night before he took his first customer was the large number 4 on his door, marking him as the 4th prostitute in the building. He’d been reduced to nothing more than a number tied to a body.

 

That night was easily the worst in his life. No one buys a thirteen year old at a seedy brothel to be gentle with them. He was thrown on the bed and forced to do awful things, things that began an integral part of his life. He could do any of that now without batting an eyelash, but on that first night he just wished he would die. He had just wanted to go to bed early.

He was awoken by the old woman the next morning, she was crying and petting his hair. He was lying in a pool of blood, and on the pillow next to him there was a ten dollar bill and three ones. The man left him a thirteen dollar tip.

 

Everything changed after that. Jun permanently moved into the fourth bedroom and started seeing customers every night. He grew his hair out to accentuate his youthful features. The old woman passed away, and left him her meager savings, she had been trying to save enough to buy him out of there before he went to work, but failed. He became quite good at his job, and the years began to pass a bit quicker than before. He wouldn’t say he liked what he did, he wasn’t a fan of old sweaty men plowing into him every night, but there nothing he could do about it.

He got used to it.

 

When he was sixteen he finally made a friend. A quiet boy named Minghao, Jun was determined to take care of him. He looked out for him as much as possible, he refused to let Minghao go through the pain and struggles he went through himself. He felt like if he could make Minghao’s life better he would have a purpose.

The years went by, and the brothel started making more money. He and Minghao were finally allowed to leave and go outside for a few minutes every day. They had the luxury because they had been there for so long. Jun was about nineteen years old, he hadn’t changed much, he just looked more mature. Minghao still had a youthful face, he was very cute.

 

They had been tasked with recruiting more prostitutes to work, they had too many customers for the amount of workers. At first, neither of them wanted to do it, they didn’t want to lure more people into that life, but they were eventually forced. Instead of the usual three clients a night, the owner gave them five or six. He told them it would back to normal once they started bring in more workers. They resisted for as long as possible, but eventually their bodies couldn’t handle it. They dutifully lured more people into their business, but as few as possible.

It was at this time that the owner thought of a new ultimatum. He took Jun aside separately and told him that if he brought in twenty new workers in three months he and Minghao would be let go, absolutely free. They could take all their tip money and start a new life. They had sizable savings, they never went anywhere to buy things. Jun wanted the best for Minghao, he wanted him to have a life outside of that place, so he did it. He pulled every trick in the book, including but not limited to: kidnapping, blackmail, attempted murder, etc. Minghao, being unaware of the deal, was enraged. 

“What’s the matter with you? We told ourselves we wouldn’t do more than we had to!” Minghao was yelling at him again. And again, he tried to explain.

“I’m doing it for you, I promise,” he was pleading with him now, he didn’t want Minghao to be upset with him.

“You used to be so much different, you were kind and caring, but now you’re just cruel,” Minghao looked like he might cry, Jun was just trying to make him understand that he was doing it because he cared, but he was starting to lose his temper.

“I’ve done everything for you since you came here, and you’re so ungrateful! I could have left you to go through what I did on that first night but I didn’t because I’m a good person!"

“A good person doesn’t sell out innocent people for their own personal gain!” Jun practically saw red at Minghao’s words. How dare he say that when Jun had gone through the brunt of the work and pain for him? He always spent his free time making sure Minghao was alright, he always let Minghao use the limited hot water in the shower, he made sure Minghao’s clothes were clean, he gave him half his food because he was afraid Minghao was too skinny, and this is what he gets in return.

It didn’t matter now, he’d done it, he’d gotten them out of their contracts, all they had to do was move on, but before he could do anything the choices were made.

“I’m leaving by myself, I’m sorry but I can’t spend my life with you anymore. You suffocate me and you scare me, I want my old Junnie back but he’s gone,” Minghao was crying as he spoke. Jun was in shock, he stood there as Minghao packed his bags and left.

When he finally came to he packed his things as well and walked to a nearby convenience store, unwilling to even thing about what had just happened. He bought himself a sandwich, a water bottle, some candy, and some chips. He’d never spent any tip money before, so it seemed almost fitting in a slightly morbid way that his total was $12.96. He pulled out the same ten dollar bill and three ones that signified his beginning as owned property to make his first purchase as a free man.

 

There was dead silence as Jun finished his story. He sat silently on the couch, Minghao stared up at him, he had an unreadable expression on his face. Nobody moved, time felt like it was standing still.

Then, it started again. Minghao launched himself off the floor onto Jun’s lap and hugged him. He buried his face into Jun’s shoulder and sobbed. He started blubbering and rambling about how sorry he was and how he was wrong. Jun laughed a bit, his expression softer than Seungkwan had ever seen it.

“Your voice is annoying me, if you put your mouth to better use I might forgive you,” he said softly, mimicking his words from earlier. Easily, their lips met. Seungkwan looked away from this one too. Hansol had actually teared up a bit during this story, and he was wiping his eyes.

The moment was shattered when Chan rushed out of his office.

“Everything is ready, now we wait,” his eyes were sparkling. A deep feeling of dread settled over the room despite Chan’s excitement.


	8. Chapter 8

Chan obviously didn’t sense the tension because he told them to sort out their business in the next few weeks and bid them goodnight.

 

The room sat in silence for a minute as everyone mulled over what had just happened. Seungkwan was still crying, but not as hard as before. Hansol had stopped crying, but was still red-faced and puffy eyed. Jun and Minghao were talking quietly on the couch, Minghao had his head on Jun’s shoulder and their fingers were laced together tightly. Mingyu and Wonwoo were just sitting beside each other but not speaking, Mingyu occasionally sniffled.

“Well it’s certainly been a long and strange day,” Seungkwan said finally.

Several heads nodded in agreement.

“What do you think Chan is plotting?” Minghao asked after a few minutes.

“Who knows, it could be anything,” Hansol responded.

“Well he told us to sort out our business, so if anyone has anything to do they should do it,” Wonwoo said as he stood up, “I have some things to take care of, so I’ll be seeing you guys tomorrow.” Mingyu followed him as he left, and bid farewell to the other people in the room.

Hansol and Seungkwan eventually started feeling awkward being left with Jun and Minghao, who were still having a moment on the couch, so they said goodnight and retired to Hansol’s room.

“We have to go and see my mom tomorrow, I’ve neglected her,” Seungkwan said, he was disappointed in himself, he had meant to see her much more often know that he had time but he’d been caught up with Hansol and forgotten. He was hardly worthy of being called a good son now. While he was mentally berating himself he didn’t notice Hansol coming up behind him, so he jolted when Hansol wrapped an arm around him and pulled him to sit on the bed.

“Hey, don’t be upset,” he said gently. Seungkwan avoided his eyes and stared down at his hands.

Hansol sighed and squeezed his shoulder, “I’m sure it’ll be alright, get some sleep,”

He got up and began to prepare the couch bed. Seungkwan just stared at him as he worked, still feeling guilty about his mother. Hansol went into the bathroom so Seungkwan got up and settled himself on the couch, personal hygiene be damned, he was tired and wanted to go to sleep. He was only half awake when Hansol came out of the bathroom. Hansol must have figured that he was asleep because he gently lifted him from the couch and laid him in the bed. He hovered next to him for a few second and pushed his hair out his face.

“Goodnight Seungkwan, sweet dreams,” he whispered, and he went to walk back to the couch, but Seungkwan’s sleepy mind was too slow to think about his actions, so he grabbed onto Hansol’s arm and pulled him toward the bed.

“Stay,” he mumbled, Hansol hesitated slightly before crossing to the other side of the bed and laying down. Seungkwan took the opportunity to cuddle into him and settled down to go to sleep. He drifted off while Hansol gently carded his fingers through his hair.

 

When Seungkwan woke up he noticed a few things: one, he was very warm and cozy and comfortable; two, he was most certainly not alone. He was curled up in Hansol’s arms and had his face against his chest. He was too tired to get worked up about it so he laid there for a few minutes, watching the way the sunlight streamed through the curtains and cast shadows on Hansol’s face, until Hansol woke up and gently disentangled himself and went to the bathroom. Seungkwan’s heart panged when the door shut, loneliness settling over him. He tried to push the feelings down, he knew he had no business getting too attached to someone he could never have, but it was just so difficult. 

He decided to just get up and go about his day and forget about it. He changed, brushed his teeth once Hansol finally got out of the bathroom (he takes ten years, Seungkwan could swear on it,) and went to find a suitable breakfast. He was rifling through the refrigerator when he sensed a presence behind him. He wasn’t really in the mood to deal with anyone at the moment, so whoever it was probably wouldn’t be getting Sunshine and Sparkles Seungkwan this time.

“So who are you exactly?” It was Junhui’s voice, and to be honest, Seungkwan was just a bit intimidated by him, (considering the Junhui had literally held a gun to his head no less than a few days before,) but his lingering sadness and fatigue were protecting him. He turned around slowly, and saw Jun leaning against the counter, with a perfectly blank expression on his face.

“I’m Seungkwan.” Very true, very true indeed.

“Yes, I know. That’s not what I meant, but I’ll let it slide.” Then he turned and left. Just like that. Seungkwan thought Jun’s behavior was quite bizarre, and he didn’t quite know what to make of him. He only had stories and his physical appearance to go by. Jun was quite handsome, he had a strong facial structure and carried himself confidently; but his expressions never reached his eyes. He looked permanently troubled if one looked closely, the only time Seungkwan had ever seen true emotion in him was after his story.

Seungkwan decided that food was more important than Junhui and his lack of social skills, so he went back to his previous task. The fridge was starting to fill up again, and Seungkwan couldn’t force Hansol to clean it this time, but instead of tackling the job while it was still small, Seungkwan decided to ignore it and get food on the road.

Eventually Hansol was ready to go so they left the apartment, heading down to the garage in silence. The elevator ride was a bit awkward, and Seungkwan was beginning to curse his sleepy request from the night before. He knew his distaste for quiet would eventually take over and make him put his foot in his mouth, but he was challenging himself to keep it down for as long as possible.

The journey into the garage was a bit strange, as it was completely empty. No cars or anything. A quick glance told Seungkwan Hansol was just as confused as he was.

“Pardon my French, but what the actual fuck?” Hansol looked around incredulously, as if he expected everything to suddenly reappear. Seungkwan couldn’t even celebrate the fact that he wasn’t the one to speak first, due to a sudden realization.

“My mom’s car is missing,” he felt like he was .2 seconds away from having a breakdown. If he didn’t get that car back he’d do something drastic and far too melodramatic for comfort.

“I’m sure it’s around here somewhere,” Hansol tried to sound reassuring, he failed, but it’s the thought that counts.

It really was bizarre situation, a garage, complete with cars and workshop, was suddenly devoid of absolutely everything in it. It was also devoid of the two presences that usually occupied it.

“Mingyu and Wonwoo should probably know what happened,” Hansol said. Seungkwan was too busy trying not to vomit his nonexistent breakfast to care about what was being said to him. Hansol gently took ahold of his arm and started pulling him toward the exit to the street.

Outside yielded no results, but a loop around to the back parking lot found Mingyu looking highly confused and Wonwoo practically sobbing into the ground. Hansol and Seungkwan quickly jogged over to them.

“What happened?” Hansol asked urgently. Mingyu shrugged and gestured aimlessly toward Wonwoo.

“We were robbed,” Wonwoo choked out quite loudly before he resumed his crying. Seungkwan was almost impressed that Wonwoo was actually capable of changing facial expression, but he figured that since Wonwoo, was, in fact, a human being, it would make sense that he also felt normal human emotions, despite his outward appearance.

“Robbed? By who?” Hansol asked. Seungkwan wanted to laugh at the fact that this seemed like the script from a cheesy drama, but he was still slightly in shock.

“They left a note,” Mingyu added unhelpfully. At least he tried.

The three of them looked at Wonwoo expectantly, who had a small piece of paper crumpled in his hand.

“Did the note say anything important?” Seungkwan eventually asked, after a few minutes of staring at Wonwoo’s shaking form did nothing.

“I didn’t get to read it, when he found it he sprinted out here and started crying,” Mingyu said.

Hansol walked over to Wonwoo and knelt down next to him, he put his arm around him and started speaking too quietly for Seungkwan and Mingyu to hear.

“So… Nice weather,” Mingyu said, looking around and nodding as he spoke. Seungkwan was a bit relieved to find that he wasn’t the only one who couldn’t go for long periods in silence. 

“Yeah, really nice, mild clouds, nice breeze, really a perfect day,” Seungkwan responded. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be seeing his mother that day.

Eventually Hansol managed to remove the note from Wonwoo, and he returned to Mingyu and Seungkwan to read it.

“It basically says that they took our stuff because they wanted to get our attention, and won’t have any problem returning it if we meet them at the airfield tonight at eight,” Hansol said.  
“Oh wow, that’s a way to do it, just the not would have probably sufficed,” Mingyu said, looking a bit dazed.

“Yeah, I’d say this is overkill,” Seungkwan stated, really, they had to steal all their stuff for attention?

Hansol shrugged, “There’s no signature either, but do we really have a choice?”

“How are we even supposed to get there? They took all the cars.” Seungkwan asked. This person had some poor planning skills. If they expected them to walk it would be well past eight by the time they got there.

Seungkwan and Hansol went to take a walk around the building to see if the mysterious thief had left any mode of transportation.

“This is certainly something,” Seungkwan stated as they walked.

“Tell me about it, this just had to happen before Chan’s weird master plan, what if we don’t get the stuff back in time? He’s been planning this for years.” Hansol stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground.

Seungkwan didn’t quite know what to say, so they continued in silence. They didn’t find anything, so they returned to Wonwoo and Mingyu. Seungkwan knew a person who wanted something from them wouldn’t leave them with absolutely nothing, so he tried to investigate a bit.

“Was the note addressed to anyone in particular?” he asked.

Wonwoo looked up at him miserably, “Just me.” Mingyu was rubbing his back comfortingly as they sat.

“Where did you find it?” he asked.

“In the middle of the garage, there was nothing else there,” he sniffled. Seungkwan nodded, and turned to go back inside. Hansol quickly followed.

Seungkwan chewed his lip as he considered the information he had thus far. Someone stole all their cars and equipment, meaning they were fast, efficient, and good with technology. They left a note addressed to only Wonwoo, meaning they obviously knew Wonwoo. They were able to do this all in the span of a few hours overnight, meaning they had a plan, and knew how to execute it.

He required a bit more information before he could begin to formulate any theories.

“How tough is the security on the garage?” he asked Hansol, who looked a bit startled at being suddenly addressed, but he quickly recovered.

“It’s really intense, there’s a sensor on the doors that only unlocks for cars it recognizes,” Hansol responded, “Wonwoo installs some weird chip thing in all the cars that come into the garage, but it’ll only keep the door open for a certain frame.”

“How did my car get in the first time then?” Seungkwan asked.

“Wonwoo can manually turn off the system, but it’s a really difficult process,” Hansol said.

Seungkwan nodded and continued thinking. The person was obviously on par with Wonwoo with technology. Seungkwan was beginning to feel very bad for Wonwoo, who was obviously taking this the hardest. Almost like he could sense what Seungkwan was thinking, Hansol began to speak.

“Wonwoo spent a very long time building up his garage, and he made the security system himself. This person basically stole everything he’s been working on in the years that he’s been here. This was his whole life, and it’s just gone,” Hansol’s voice wavered at the end, like he might cry. Seungkwan had never really stopped to consider Wonwoo and Hansol’s relationship, but it seemed like they were fairly close.

Without thinking, he reached out and took Hansol’s hand, squeezing it gently for comfort. Hansol’s eyes widened in surprise, and his cheeks darkened, but he didn’t pull away. They eventually made it back into the garage- which was still open, leading Seungkwan to believe that the thief had simply disabled the system- which was still most definitely empty. Seungkwan looked around the whole area, even on the ceilings and walls, but there was nothing.

He eventually pulled his hand from Hansol’s to check the time. It was 1:34, meaning they still had a decent amount of time before they were expected, but without a way to get there, they were basically sitting ducks.

“What are we supposed to do? Does Wonwoo know how to hotwire cars?” Seungkwan asked, more than a bit frustrated by this point. He needed his car back.

“I’d imagine so,” Hansol responded, “We should probably go talk to Chan about this.”

Seungkwan’s dealings with Chan thus far had all been very strange, he seemed to have incredibly unstable emotions, Seungkwan had absolutely no idea how he’d react to the news.

The elevator ride up was heavy, and they walked in silence to Chan’s office. They entered when Chan invited them in and found Minghao and Junhui in there as well, Seungkwan would’ve cared about what they were talking about had they not had such an intense situation on their hands.

Hansol explained the situation quickly, earning some surprised looks from the other occupants of the room.

“So you went down to the garage, and there was nothing,” Chan recapped. Hansol and Seungkwan nodded in unison.

“How are we supposed to get there with no car? We can’t get the stuff back without showing up,” Seungkwan started.

Chan seemed taken aback for a second, and his response completely shocked both Hansol and Seungkwan.

“Did I really hire people with such shitty critical thinking skills?” he looked entirely unimpressed, “We live in a city, yet here you are, asking how to get somewhere without a car.”

The room sat in silence, waiting for Chan to continue. He sighed and rubbed his temples, his face scrunched up comically, and it struck Seungkwan how young Chan really was; sure he was only a year younger than Seungkwan himself, but that was a lot for someone who was the literal leader of a gang, albeit a very strange one. Finally, Chan finished his statement.

“Take a fucking taxi, you absolute morons, get out of my office and try not to die tonight,” he said without opening his eyes. Seungkwan and Hansol, effectively dismissed, quickly fled, Junhui snorted at them on their way out.

When they made it out into the hallway they took a second to compose themselves.

“That was embarrassing,” Hansol said as they began to return to the pair outside.

“He called us morons, I’m hurt,” Seungkwan joked, he felt a bit lighter now, Chan not taking it seriously made him feel a bit better about the situation.

They made it down to where Wonwoo and Mingyu were still sitting, Wonwoo had calmed down by now, and he had his head resting on Mingyu’s shoulder. It was quite adorable in Seungkwan’s humble opinion. Seungkwan didn’t want to ruin the moment, but they had to get the ball rolling eventually.

“Hey, we should probably go get lunch, we’re gonna need energy for tonight,” he called out as he walked across the parking lot.

The two of them jumped apart, startled by the sudden noise, and they blushed a bit at being caught so close together, so adorable. Seungkwan’s brain tried to go down the rabbit hole of imagining himself and Hansol like that, but he killed the thought in favor of thinking about food.

The four of them agreed to walk to a nearby McDonald’s, Seungkwan could swear his blood was 50% Mac sauce by this point, but who cares? Not him sadly. He was going to die of early heart disease. They discussed the plan for later, Mingyu and Wonwoo had come up with taxi as a solution to the problem without being called absolute morons, much to Hansol and Seungkwan’s chagrin. They ate their food silently. Wonwoo still hadn’t completely bounced back from the earlier events, and no one felt like speaking more than required.

The airfield was just a small area off the airport, it was currently listed as unoccupied, but that obviously wasn’t true anymore. It was about a 45 minute drive from their headquarters, so they planned on leaving around 6:30 just to stop Wonwoo from having a heart attack, they’d already accounted for traffic in the 45 minutes, but better safe than sorry.

 

After lunch they split up to prepare for their mission. Seungkwan and Hansol were in Hansol’s room relaxing. It was about 3:30, so they still had some downtime to burn.

“I should teach you how to shoot soon,” Hansol said suddenly. “Chan wants all hands on deck when we execute his plan, I think he wants you in the action too,”

Seungkwan went to respond, but Hansol cut him off.

“I highly doubt I’ll be able to make you especially good, unless you have a hidden talent or something, but at least you’ll know how to do it if you need to,” Hansol finished, looking up at the ceiling with an unreadable expression. Seungkwan highly doubted he’d be good at handling any kind of weapon, hand eye coordination wasn’t his forte.

“This is all happening so suddenly,” Seungkwan stated, it had only been a little over a month since he’d even gotten involved with any of this.

“I’m sorry this happened to you,” Hansol whispered. “I just don’t want you to get hurt,”

Seungkwan was taken aback, he really hadn’t realized that Hansol genuinely cared for him like that, and it made him incredibly happy. He went to respond, but again, Hansol cut him off. He was quite vocal today, usually Seungkwan did most of the talking.

“I’ve never really had to actually watch out for someone before, I never knew my family, and all the people here can take care of themselves. This is the first time I’ve been in this situation. If I lose you it’s my fault, and I don’t know if I can handle that,” Hansol’s voice came out weakly, like it was taking him a lot of energy to speak.

Seungkwan couldn’t stop repeating Hansol’s words in his brain. If I lose you. The phrase felt strangely intimate, and Seungkwan’s face immediately reddened. For once in his life he was at a loss for words, all thanks to his beloved companion and probably his only real friend. He knew he was in too deep, and he should nip his feelings in the bud, but it was so hard when Hansol did things like this. He was so sweet, it made Seungkwan’s heart ache longingly.

 

The rest of the time until 6:30 passed in silence, although not an uncomfortable one. They made their way down to the garage, where Wonwoo had already hailed a taxi. He was tapping his foot anxiously, and he kept checking his watch as if to make sure they weren’t even a second late (they weren’t.) Mingyu was in the front next to the driver, who regarded him apprehensively. Seungkwan could see where he coming from, Mingyu was quite intimidating to someone who’d never spoken to him.

The three others filed into the backseat and took off on their way to the airfield. The radio played awkwardly in the background, the driver looked supremely uncomfortable during the entire ride, and was incredibly relieved to finally leave them at the airfield, so relieved he almost forget to charge them, but Mingyu very kindly reminded him. What a nice guy.

It was a whopping 7:18 when they arrived, so they plopped themselves down on a bench and waited it out. Nobody spoke, they just wondered what would happen in silence. Time passed quickly on the bench, and soon enough, they were making their way across the strip to the building in the opposite side.

They paused outside the door for a few seconds before Wonwoo steeled himself and flung open the door.

Inside the building all their cars and equipment (including Seungkwan’s mom’s car,) were nicely lined up along the wall. The rest of the space was empty except for a fairly small but high tech looking plane to the opposite side and a bed with a man standing next to it in the middle.

The man was taller than Seungkwan, and looked a bit older, but not much. He was fairly handsome too. Seungkwan could confidently say that he’d never seen the man in his life, and it didn’t seem like Hansol had either. But Wonwoo and Mingyu looked absolutely flabbergasted. Mingyu’s eyes went from shocked to excited to confused back to shocked in the span of a second. Wonwoo just looked like a deer caught in headlights. They obviously knew him, whoever he was.

The silence was broken by Mingyu exclaiming “Seokmin!” right as Wonwoo said “Dk?”

The man- Seokmin or Dk, depending on who you asked apparently- just smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, next chapter should be up later today or tomorrow.


	9. Chapter 9

Seungkwan didn’t have much time to register what was going on before Mingyu had locked the stranger into a bone crushing hug. Wonwoo stood absolutely shell-shocked beside them. Seungkwan and Hansol stayed back while the reunion took place. Hansol looked as confused as Seungkwan felt, and it was a bit comforting to know that he wasn’t the only one out of the loop.

Seungkwan was fairly certain this was the man from Mingyu’s story, but he didn’t understand how he knew Wonwoo. To be quite honest, he didn’t know much about Wonwoo in the first place. 

The man had one arm securely wrapped around Mingyu, while the other was stroking his hair softly. Mingyu seemed to be shaking slightly as they held on to each other. They stayed like that for a few moments while the others watched, until Wonwoo finally spoke up. 

“You’re the one that stole my stuff?” Wonwoo asked incredulously, like he believed Seokmin was incapable of the feat.

Seokmin didn’t stop smiling as he responded cheerfully.

“You’ve always been astute, Wonwoo.”

Hansol snorted under his breath at that, and Seungkwan sensed a little bit of bad blood between them. He was beginning to suspect that he had gone this far to get their attention a little more out of spite than necessity.

Seokmin continued, “I’ve already hacked your system once, so what’s another time?”

Wonwoo tried to grapple with this information for a few seconds, but seemed to be having a hard time. Seungkwan was starting to get agitated at the suspense, so he decided to put himself out of his misery.

“What’s going on? How do you two know each other?” he asked. Seokmin finally looked toward Seungkwan and Hansol; Seungkwan noted that Seokmin was handsome, but looked a bit weary.

Wonwoo answered before Seokmin, surprisingly. 

“We met as children, we were part of the same gang,” Wonwoo managed to choke out. He looked like he was dangerously close to fainting, a fact not lost on Mingyu, who stepped out of Seokmin’s embrace to steady him. 

“The gang we were in specialized in technology, mostly in weapons and transportation,” Seokmin explained, “but I was always pathetic at it as a child, and I was an outcast.” 

His face fell as he spoke. He looked considerably different without the large smile, and Seungkwan found himself not liking the change. Seokmin had a very friendly and inviting face when he was smiling, it was no wonder his presence had been comforting to Mingyu in the past.

“Wonwoo probably remembers me when I couldn’t do anything and had no friends,” he continued, and one look at Wonwoo verified this fact as true, “but I learned eventually, I started fixing planes instead of cars. I think I match up quite well now.”

Wonwoo nodded feebly in response. Something about the situation still seemed off. Seungkwan couldn’t quite figure out why Mingyu knew Seokmin’s real name, while Wonwoo knew a nickname. Hansol must have come to the same realization because he asked about it just as Seungkwan was about to.

“When I was a kid I didn’t like my name. The other kids made fun of me because the first syllable sounds like ‘suck,’” He giggled a bit at the memory, “so I decided to call myself DK for no particular reason, at least when they called me Donkey Kong I could laugh with them.”

“When was the first time you broke into the garage?” Mingyu asked suddenly.

Seokmin just looked at Mingyu for a few seconds, and a few truths came together in Seungkwan’s mind: Seokmin had brought Mingyu to them; Chan knew that he did it, he had known since Jun revealed that Seokmin and Dokyeom were the same person. Seungkwan wondered if Chan somehow knew who had summoned them out here, and if that’s why he hadn’t come to the meeting.

Seungkwan’s conclusions were confirmed when Seokmin told the story of how he disarmed and rearmed Wonwoo’s system and left an unconscious Mingyu on the ground. 

“Why me? Why did you bring him to me?” Wonwoo asked, seemingly calmed down in the time that Seokmin was speaking.

Seokmin’s eyes flashed before he answered, “You were the nicest person I knew, I didn’t have much choice.”

These words weren’t as confident as his others, and no one really believed what he said, but Seungkwan could already tell Seokmin wouldn’t divulge any more than he planned to.

“It’s cool that we had this little reunion and all, but I want my car back,” Seungkwan said, losing interest in the conversation as the stress of the day and the fact that he hadn’t been able to go see his mother finally caught up to him.

Seokmin gestured to the line of cars on the wall as if he were excusing them. Seungkwan began walking toward his mother’s car; he was about halfway there when he realized Hansol wasn’t following him. 

Hansol stood in the same place, staring curiously at Seokmin.

“There’s one thing I can’t figure out,” Hansol said as he gazed at the cars and tools, “How did you get all this stuff out here?”

“A magician never reveals his secrets,” Seokmin responded as the smile returned to his face. 

Hansol seemed to accept this answer, because he started following Seungkwan to the car with no further questions. The two of them left Wonwoo and Mingyu to continue their discussion with Seokmin and started toward home. 

 

When they arrived, Chan was waiting down in the empty garage. Seungkwan really wasn’t feeling up to dealing with him, so before he could ask any questions Seungkwan silenced him.

“We don’t know anything, your best bet is waiting for Mingyu and Wonwoo,”

Hansol nodded his agreement and they continued walking toward the elevators in silence. The elevator ride was strangely tense. Seungkwan was starting to get a bad feeling in his gut, and he knew he hadn’t eaten anything that caused it. Hansol seemed to notice the change in his behavior.

“Penny for your thoughts?” he asked gently as they ascended toward the apartment.

Seungkwan didn’t answer for a moment, he didn’t quite know what was bothering him. 

“I think I’m just tired,” 

Hansol didn’t seem content with this answer, but he didn’t push the subject.

Out of habit, he went to pull his phone out of his pocket to check the time, but realized it was missing. In the chaos that was that morning he must have forgotten it. It wasn’t that concerning, he didn’t usually get calls or texts very often, but it still felt strange to be without it.

When they got off the elevator he went straight to Hansol’s room to check his phone. It was plugged in exactly where he left it that afternoon, but instead of the zero notifications he was expecting, the screen lit up with missed calls and text messages. 

Most of the calls and messages were from his mother’s neighbor, who checked on her during the day to make sure she hadn’t fallen or been otherwise injured. Terror shot through him as he unlocked his phone to read the messages. They were mostly from around the time that Seungkwan had left his phone to go see Seokmin.

He skimmed through them until he saw what he was looking for, a message from his neighbor, reading:

Went to check on your mom, found her on the ground and called ambulance, I couldn’t go with her and don’t know what happened

The other missed calls were from the hospital, as he was his mother’s emergency contact. The real kick in the gut came from the fact that the first missed call was from his mother herself- a few minutes before the first call from the neighbor- as if she had tried to call him for help but been unable to reach him.

He stared at his phone in shock after he finished reading. This was it, the moment he’d been dreading since the doctor told him about his mother’s condition. He knew in his heart that this was the end, he just hoped he wasn’t too late to say goodbye.

He unplugged his phone as tears began to fill his eyes. He tried his hardest to will them away, he knew he couldn’t drive to the hospital while he was crying. As he hurried to get back down to the garage Hansol stopped him, concern written all over his face.

“Hey, what’s the matter? Where are you going?” He grabbed onto Seungkwan’s arm as he spoke.

Seungkwan didn’t know how to respond so he just pulled his arm free and kept moving. Hansol followed him out into the elevator and continued trying to figure out what was wrong.

“Did something happen with your mom?” he asked gently as they descended.

Seungkwan just nodded mutely and handed Hansol his phone. Hansol read the messages as Seungkwan continued trying to swallow his tears beside him. When he finished, Hansol looked up at Seungkwan and pulled him into his arms. The elevator opened with them in this position, and Chan- who was still waiting in the garage- looked at them questioningly. He declined to comment once he saw Seungkwan’s face and let them go about their business.

Hansol let Seungkwan in order to lead him over to the car.

“Give me your keys,” Hansol requested as they neared the car.

When Seungkwan didn’t make any move Hansol continued, “You can’t drive like this, give me your keys,” 

They had a little staring match before Seungkwan decided that getting to the hospital was more important than whatever his issue with not wanting Hansol to drive was.

Seungkwan finally handed them over and got into the passenger seat. He quietly told Hansol what hospital to drive to and put his head against the window. 

“You can cry you know, you’ll feel better if you do,” Hansol told him as they pulled out of the garage. Seungkwan continued to sit in silence, but he let a few tears slip down his cheeks as the city lights passed by.

 

It felt like both an eternity and a blink of the eye before they pulled into the hospital parking lot. Quite honestly, the walk from the car to the lobby to his mother’s room was a blur to Seungkwan. He hardly remembered any of it, and before he knew it he was face to face with the door separating him from the unknown. He truly didn’t know what to expect.

Hansol must have grabbed his hand somewhere along the way, because he gave it a gentle squeeze as he pushed the door open.

His mother was lying on the bed hooked up to a whole bunch of machines Seungkwan would’ve known the functions of if he were able to think clearly. The heart monitor was beeping, and that was what mattered to Seungkwan. His mother was conscious, and she smiled when he noticed him come in.

Hansol hung back toward the door, unsure if he was intruding. Seungkwan pulled the chair next to bed closer before he sat down and grabbed his mother’s hand. No words were exchanged between them as he laid his head down on the bed beside her and finally let the sobs come. The three of them sat there until Seungkwan’s tears began to wind down. 

 

When Hansol finally looked over at them he realized Seungkwan’s silence was due to the fact that he seemed to have fallen asleep. His mother was gazing down at him tenderly. Hansol was about to excuse himself to leave them alone when Seungkwan’s mother addressed him.

“You can sit down, there’s another chair over here,” her voice was weak but authoritative, and Hansol knew it wasn’t a suggestion.

He crossed the room to the other side of the bed and sat down. Seungkwan’s mother was staring at him appraisingly and he felt a bit self-conscious, so he kept his eyes focused on Seungkwan’s sleeping figure. 

“He won’t wake up for a while,” she said, stroking Seungkwan’s hair gently as he slept.

“It’s been a long day,” Hansol said feebly, unsure of how to handle the situation.

He knew she had called him over for a reason, and he had absolutely no idea what that could be. He didn’t have to wait too long though.

“I’m sure it’s obvious, but I’m not going to make it,” she started. Very blunt, Hansol could see where Seungkwan had gotten it from.

“Seungkwan’s a good boy, he’s tried his hardest to take care of me when I should’ve been taking care of him,” she continued. They both looked down toward Seungkwan, who shifted slightly but continued sleeping nonetheless. 

“He gave up so much for me, so I’m happy he’ll finally be able to live life freely,” she said earnestly, “but he’ll need help getting there.”

Hansol was beginning to see where this was going, and a bit of the tension seeped out of him.

She sat for a few more seconds before she continued a bit more somberly.

“He’s not going to have an easy time grieving me,” she finally looked Hansol in the eyes, “I don’t know you well, but it’s obvious you care about him, so I’m asking you to go a step further and take care of him when I’m gone.”

She left him to mull over it for a few seconds. Hansol found that he didn’t mind her request at all. In fact, his heart was aching for Seungkwan already. He didn’t know how to put his thoughts into words so he just nodded. This seemed to satisfy her enough, she nodded back at him and looked back down at her son.

Just as he thought they were done speaking, she began again, “Seungkwan has a good heart, you’ll find if you show him the slightest bit of kindness he’ll pay it back tenfold. I can tell that he’s very attached to you already, so please don’t take advantage of him.”

“I promise I’ll take care of him, and I would never hurt him or take advantage of him,” he surprised himself when he spoke. He wasn’t sure how the words ended up in his mouth, but he was sure he meant them with all his heart.

Her eyes crinkled as she smiled, “I know you’ll be fine.”

 

They sat there until she nudged Seungkwan awake. He blinked a bit before he remembered where he was. He saw Hansol sitting across from him and his mother looking down at him and jumped up a bit.

“I’m so sorry I fell asleep, I didn’t mean to, it’s been a long day,” he started, guilt consuming him. His mother was dying and he wasted some of the little time they had left together.

His mother silenced him almost immediately, not letting him struggle too long. 

“You needed some rest, it’s ok” she said calmly, “me and your friend here had a nice conversation while you slept.”

Seungkwan was thankful for Hansol keeping his mother company, but he wanted to speak to her alone one last time. Hansol seemed to sense his wish, because he mumbled something about a vending machine and exited the room.

He and his mother sat, the heart monitor the only sound in the room for a minute or two. His mother finally broke the silence.

“Hansol’s a nice boy,” she stated plainly.

Seungkwan nodded blankly.

“I think you know what’s going to happen tonight,” she said gently.

He did. He vaguely remembered a doctor telling him that his mother would lose the ability to breathe on her own very soon and had filed a Do Not Resuscitate form sometime in the past. Apparently she’d been hiding the recent details of her condition from him, her heart and lungs had begun to fail, and the hospital couldn’t do anything except to try and lessen her pain as she died. He mostly blamed himself. He’d been so distracted with Hansol that he hadn’t spent time with her like he said he would. Now it was too late and he’d never be able to get that time back. 

His mother seemed to have read his mind, she broke him out of his reverie before he got too deep, “It’s not your fault. I should never had let it get this far anyway,” he opened his mouth to respond but she cut him off, “I don’t want to be the reason you don’t enjoy your life, that’s not why I put you on this earth. I want you to live without me as a burden.”

“You aren’t a burden to me, how could you even say that?” Seungkwan was hurt, truly, he had never thought his mother was a burden and knew for a fact he had never acted like she was.

“We’re seeing this through different eyes. I’m seeing this through the eyes of a parent. Watching your child struggle is the most difficult thing. Watching you break your back instead of living your life has hurt me more than this disease has.”

“I don’t mind doing it,” he said in a small voice.

“I know you don’t. I’m so proud of all you’ve done in these past few years, but you deserve more. You’re seeing this through the eyes of a boy who’s afraid to stand on his own, but you’ve proven so many times that you can do it.”

“But I don’t have anyone other than you,” It had only been him and his mom since he was kid. His father and sisters were long gone, but he didn’t like to think about that. Death reared its ugly head at him too often.

“That’s just not true,” she smiled, “Your friend Hansol will be there for you,” she didn’t give Seungkwan time to process her words before she spoke again. “Enough of this serious talk, let’s gossip.”

Seungkwan sat for a second before he pushed aside the hefty emotions. She was right, he could stand on his own, he would prove it to himself this time. Once he had assured himself that she was right, he leaned toward her conspiratorially.

“What are we gossiping about?” This is what he would really miss, he and his mother talking normally.

“Your friend sure is handsome,” she winked as well as she could while she spoke. Seungkwan instantly felt a blush rise to his cheeks.

“Really mother, this is what you want to talk about right now?” He whined, but they both knew on the inside he was happy they were going to able to share one last lighthearted conversation.

When she made no effort to respond, Seungkwan whined again before he nodded.

“He’s attractive, yes,” he said, jokingly turning his nose toward the ceiling and crossing his arms.

“Be responsible and don’t let yourself get hurt,” she said gently, “it’s not going to be easy in these next few months.”

Seungkwan nodded. He was just about to take his mother’s advice and try to force his feelings for Hansol out of heart before she spoke again.

“But don’t be afraid to try and make it easier on yourself,” she smiled at him again, and he made sure to immortalize it in his brain. Their time together may be short, but he knew all his memories would never leave his heart. If his mother encouraged him to make it on his own, he would. 

Seungkwan knew he was in for the most difficult time in his life, but he knew he was ready to stop pitying himself. He was going to be the person who became stronger from tough experiences. He knew that it was time for him to grow up and take his first steps on his own. 

She had been waiting for him to come and visit. He could see know that she was at peace, and it wouldn’t be long before she left him for good. They didn’t talk much for a while, he’d been sitting with her for a few hours when she began having some breathing problems. 

He channeled all his bravery from earlier and braced for impact. He held onto her hand and kissed it gently. Her eyes filled with tears as she regarded her son for the last time.

“I’m so proud of you, and I love you so much,” she whispered.

He couldn’t find it in himself to speak, so he just nodded. He didn’t need to say anything truly, she already knew everything that was in his heart. 

He sat there as she closed her eyes and continued sitting there until the heart monitor flat lined. He couldn’t tell you how long it took, he couldn’t tell you anything at that point. He didn’t register the doctors coming into the room, he didn’t even register Hansol gently pulling him out of the room and walking him to the car. Everything was a complete blur. The sun peeked out over the horizon on their way back to the apartment. A new day had come.

 

Hansol pulled Seungkwan out of the car when they got into the garage. He had been completely unresponsive on the ride home, he wasn’t crying or anything, just staring blankly ahead of him. Mingyu and Wonwoo were in the garage as usual, all the cars and tools returned. 

When he noticed that they had arrived, Mingyu bounded up to them, as energetic as usual. His face fell as he took in Seungkwan’s expression.

“What happened?” he asked, obviously trying to be quiet and respectful. 

“Seungkwan’s mother passed away last night,” Hansol said, trying to gauge Seungkwan’s reaction. No response.

Mingyu gasped and put his hands over his mouth. Wonwoo had come close enough to hear the conversation, and the concern showed on his face. Hansol knew it wasn’t the right time to get sentimental, but Seungkwan’s mother’s words about taking care of him sounded in his head, and he thanked his lucky stars that their friends were so kind and compassionate. 

Neither of them said anything, but Mingyu walked over to them and pulled Seungkwan out of Hansol’s arms into his. 

“You know if you need anything you can come to me, right?” Mingyu whispered into Seungkwan’s hair. To all of their surprise, Seungkwan nodded and wrapped his arms around Mingyu. They heard the first few sniffles and Hansol knew they’d be down in the garage for a while. Mingyu didn’t seem to mind Seungkwan crying on him, because he kept holding onto him and stroking his hair. 

Hansol knew they were so lucky someone like Mingyu had joined their team; even though he cared so much for Seungkwan, he knew he couldn’t provide the emotional support that someone like Mingyu could. He and Wonwoo awkwardly stood back until Seungkwan detached himself from Mingyu and looked around for Hansol. He gently wrapped his arm around Seungkwan and led him to the elevator. 

They made it up to the apartment, which appeared to be vacant. Hansol was slightly happy about this, less people meant it would be easier to get Seungkwan to bed. He needed to sleep before he attempted to process anything.

Seungkwan still didn’t talk, but he was showing more signs that he was aware of his surroundings, so Hansol figured speaking to him wouldn’t hurt.

“Do you want me to leave you alone to sleep or should I-” he didn’t get to finish his sentence before Seungkwan shook his head and grabbed onto him. Hansol gently carded his fingers through Seungkwan’s hair as he felt Seungkwan’s tears on his shoulder. He didn’t think it was in either of their best interest to keep standing, so he gently shook Seungkwan off of him so they could move.

“Let’s lay down, ok?”

He pulled Seungkwan onto the bed with him and let him lay his head on his chest. Seungkwan cried a little bit more before he fell asleep and left Hansol to his thoughts.

Seungkwan meant a lot to him. It almost scared him how much he cared about him. He kept thinking about what Seungkwan’s mother had said to him. Take care of him.

And then it hit him. It hit him like a train at full speed. He really did want to take care of him, he wanted to take care of him forever. Seungkwan was more than just a friend he wanted to look out for; somehow, in the short amount of time they’d known each other, Seungkwan had carved himself a permanent place in Hansol’s heart. 

Hansol wasn’t a selfish person, his own feelings wouldn’t get in the way of what he had to do. He would wait until Seungkwan had healed before he made any kind of romantic advance toward him. He had a sneaking suspicion that his feelings may be returned, but it most certainly was not the time to act on them. He had promised he wouldn’t take advantage of Seungkwan’s fragile emotional state; A promise that he fully intended to keep.

He fell asleep shortly after his thoughts quieted down, and he dreamt of Seungkwan; nothing too specific, just him.

 

 

When Seungkwan woke up he felt simultaneously better and worse. Physically, he felt like shit; mentally, he felt like shit as well, but it was nice to be able to think again. He didn’t feel like crying anymore, so he just laid there and waited for Hansol to wake up. It didn’t really feel like his mother was gone, but in truth he knew she had been gone long before she died. In a way, he was happy. She had suffered for so long that it was better this way. It was still hard for him to accept, but it felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He felt guilty about it, but she had specifically wanted this, so he was a bit more willing to forgive himself. 

He didn’t know if he was reacting the right way or not, but he knew how he wanted to feel in the end, so as long as he got there he’d be fine.

 

An hour or so passed before Hansol woke up. Seungkwan had been mindlessly scrolling through his Facebook feed in the meantime. When Hansol noticed him he smiled and yawned.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

Seungkwan thought about it for a second. To be quite honest he didn’t know the answer to that question.

“I don’t know.” His voice was scratchy and hoarse from the crying.

“Do you want to get up?” Hansol asked. “There’s no pressure though, we’ll do whatever you’re comfortable with.”

Seungkwan was thankful for Hansol’s thoughtfulness. He didn’t quite want to be coddled, but he didn’t want to be thrown to the dogs either.

“I think I should get up, the quicker I start back at it, the quicker I’ll bounce back,” Seungkwan said, smiling a bit to show his sincerity.

Seungkwan knew himself well enough to know that he needed to get up more than he needed to stay down. Even though he had every excuse to stay down, in the long run it would hurt him more. He let his mother’s words run through his brain for the nth time, and he pulled himself up to face the world again.

 

He threw himself into planning his mother’s funeral. He used the money that Chan had paid him to make sure that it would be the best funeral service possible. The guest list was fairly small, being that Seungkwan and his mother were each other’s only company.

The funeral itself went off without a hitch. He, Hansol, Mingyu, Wonwoo, Jun, Minghao, and Chan were the only ones who attended, but it felt right. He knew his mother would appreciate them coming. Mingyu was crying like he’d known her his whole life, and Seungkwan was almost tempted to invite him to say a few words just to see what came out, but he figured it’d be a bit tasteless. 

Despite all the bad things, he felt like he was at home with them; even Minghao and Junhui, who he’d had rocky starts with. With them by his side, he’d be able to get through anything. His mother had been right, he’d be able to stand up; but she’d been wrong too, he couldn’t do it on his own, he needed the people around him to brace him as he learned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for waiting on this chapter! Please leave me a comment to tell me how you feel!


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